Tree Fruit Leaders to USDA: Cater CARES Act to Our Unique Needs
April 13, 2020 Nine tree fruit organizations, led by the U.S. Apple Association and Northwest Horticultural Council, have urged Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to consider the unique circumstances of their grower constituents during the federal allocation of CARES Act funding.
Whatever formula is created to distribute CARES Act funding should be both flexible and adaptable and recognize unique business practices that exist in the tree fruit sector, the organizations wrote in an 850-word letter sent to Perdue on Monday.
“Formulas used to calculate damages should be simple for growers and USDA to utilize and recognize unique business practices that exist in the tree fruit sector,” the letter stated. “Standard business practices used in our industry to pay apple and pear growers for fruit delivered last fall and sold or stored during the COVID-19 pandemic timeframe will not provide loss data until late this year.”
The CARES Act, or Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (H.R. 748), addresses the economic fallout of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States. At $2 trillion, the legislation is the largest economic stimulus package in U.S. history.
The letter to Perdue was signed by the California Apple Commission, Michigan Apple Committee, New York Apple Association, Pennsylvania Apple Program, Washington Apple Commission, Washington State Fruit Commission, and Washington State Tree Fruit Association, along with the Northwest Horticultural Council and U.S. Apple Association.
The groups, while acknowledging the benefit that the CARES Act will provide specialty crops in general, stressed the unique production cycle and standard business practices of the tree fruit industry. Growers are already suffering direct but not yet completely quantified COVID-19 losses on fruit harvested in 2019, they wrote.
“The losses are difficult for growers to document as a result of the sales and accounting practices standard to the tree fruit sector,” the letter stated.
At the same time, some of the effects of the pandemic are more immediate, according to the organizations. Tree fruit businesses are already experiencing sales losses, particularly through the school lunch program and food service sectors, and decreased productivity as they incorporate COVID-19 protective measures into H2-A housing and packing houses. Protective measures in packinghouses have, in addition to direct materials costs for sanitizer, etc., decreased productivity and capacity by an estimated 15 to 20 percent, while labor costs have increased by a conservative estimate of 50 cents to $1 per box of fruit.
“Tree fruit growers are very large users of the H-2A guestworker program,” the organizations wrote. “It is easily conceivable that a late-summer slowdown or shut down at the border would result in millions of dollars in tree fruit left unharvested.”
In related news, USApple has created a COVID-19 resource site for growers, apple businesses and press. The site will continually be updated with information and resources.
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