Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/34759
THE END of earmarks? Fruit industry has benefited from this maligned process. by Richard Lehnert N ot all earmarks point to multimillion-dollar pork-barrel projects that build bridges between here and nowhere. Over the years, agriculture—including the fruit industry—has benefited from funding gained by commodity organizations appealing to their senator or representative in Congress, who responded by providing them with special funding called an earmark. Some notable fruit-related earmarks include funding for fireblight research at Michigan State University and Cornell University in New York ($346,000 last year), fund- ing for research on peach tree short life disease in the southeastern United States at Clemson University, fund- ing for grapevine breeding at Cornell University, and funding for Armillaria research and for the search for azinphos-methyl (Guthion) alternatives at Michigan State University. Dawn Drake, manager of the Michigan Processing Apple Growers, said the earmark for fireblight research, which began after the devastation in southwest Michigan apple orchards in 2000, has been eliminated. That Michi- gan outbreak led to $42 million in losses and removal of an estimated 350,000 to 450,000 trees from up to 2,300 acres. Stinkbug In Michigan this year, fruit growers would like to get an earmark for research on brown marmorated stinkbug. It was found in the state too late to be part of the funding process that will benefit other states where the bug was found earlier and where growers and researchers are mounting an emergency response. That, of course, is a major benefit of an earmark—it can be fast. Convince your congressional representive of your need, and it can be funded, without debate or even a vote on the floor of Congress. But in March, as members of the U.S. House of Repre- sentatives fought over a continuing resolution to fund government for the rest of fiscal year 2011, some $2.6 bil- lion in earmarks were swept away, $356 million related to agriculture. In April, members of Michigan Farm Bureau, the Pro- cessing Apple Growers, the Cherry Marketing Institute, and the California Apricot Producers met with Senator Debbie Stabenow, the Michigan Democrat who now chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee. One of their Earmarks are often considered equivalent to pork barrel legislation, but the two are not necessarily the same. www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER JULY 2011 11