Row crops near the Salton Sea.

CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE

Senator Boxer's Record & Positions

Senator Boxer is a strong and persistent fighter on behalf of California’s agriculture industry. She has worked consistently to lower foreign trade barriers to California products such as rice, tomatoes, tree fruit, grapes, and canning peaches; and she has led the fight against unfair foreign trade practices, including dumping of products such as garlic and almonds. She has also worked to increase funds for the Market Access Program an important tool to promote California’s agricultural products abroad.

Senator Boxer has been a fierce opponent of a rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that would allow citrus to be imported from regions of Argentina that suffer from severe disease and pest problems. In July 2000, the Senate unanimously approved her amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill to block USDA from permitting Argentine citrus into the United States pending further studies. In May 2001, Boxer supported a petition by the U.S. Citrus Science Council to suspend and revise the Argentine citrus rule. Finally, she applauded a 2001 U.S. District Court decision ordering USDA to rewrite its injurious rule.

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To help promote sales of California avocados abroad, Senator Boxer co-authored the Hass Avocado Promotion, Research, and Information Act, which was enacted in 2000. The fees collected under this law will help California avocado growers conduct the research and promotion activities that are critical to expanding markets.

Senator Boxer successfully petitioned USDA to provide credible scientific certification on the risks of infestation prior to approving imported avocados, thereby protecting the safety of California’s $250 million avocado crop.

Senator Boxer has fought each year for funds from the Agriculture Department to help grape growers fight the spread of Pierce’s Disease, which is spread by the glassy-winged sharpshooter. In May 2000, Boxer urged Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman to issue a formal emergency declaration for the deadly disease; USDA issued the declaration in June 2000 and immediately committed $22 million to the fight. Additional funds were provided later in the year, and in 2001 Senator Boxer secured an additional $12.9 million in the appropriations process. In the last two years, Boxer has secured nearly $50 million to combat Pierce's Disease.

Senator Boxer co-authored bipartisan legislation to clean up abandoned, contaminated waste sites known as Brownfields. President Bush signed the bill into law in January 2002. Included in the bill was Senator Boxer’s proposal to give priority to sites affecting children and other vulnerable populations. And the law also includes a provision to define lands contaminated by methamphetamine production – such as farmlands in the Central Valley – as eligible for funding.

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Plowed and stacked hay.

Senator Boxer was a strong advocate of the 2002 Farm Bill and fought to include key provisions in the legislation. These provisions included a more than doubling of funding (to $200 million) for the Market Access Program, eligibility for California farmers seeking revenue insurance to protect against crop losses, and $200 million annually for the purchase of specialty crops for use in government’s school lunch program. Boxer successfully fought to kill provisions in the bill that would have discriminated against California commodities such as cotton, rice, wheat, corn, and dairy.

The Senate passed a bipartisan amendment by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) to encourage the production of ethanol made from agricultural waste, which will make ethanol production in California more likely and provide an economic benefit to California farmers.

Senator Boxer opposed a decision by the Bush Administration to take money away from California farmers in order to pay for drought relief. USDA proposed taking $725 million designated for the purchase of surplus products such as walnuts, raisins, dates and using it to fund drought relief in other parts of the country.

At Senator Boxer's urging Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, pursuant to existing trade agreements, imposed additional duties on imports of American-type cheese. The growing tide of imports was imposing economic hardship on California dairy farmers.

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Senator Boxer worked hard to pass the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, which streamlines both the delivery process of and dispute resolution for perishable crops.

After strong advocacy by Senator Boxer for the purchase of specialty commodities from California farmers for school lunch programs, USDA agreed to such purchases. Senator Boxer secured $56.8 million in FY 2002 funds for the purchase of walnuts, almonds, raisins, dates, figs, and dried plums from California farmers for school lunch programs. In 2003 she asked USDA and USAID to buy California raisins to help fight world hunger. She also successfully urged USDA to purchase more than $5.7 million in canned peaches.

In 2001, Senator Boxer secured $2.4 million to combat the spread of Phytophthora or Sudden Oak Death Syndrome, a microscopic fungus that poses a deadly threat to thousands of oak trees throughout California. After learning that the disease, which had killed tens of thousands of California oaks, might pose a threat to redwoods Senator Boxer called on Agriculture Secretary Veneman to authorize an additional $14 million in emergency funding to fight Sudden Oak Death Syndrome. Since 2001, Boxer has secured over $15 million in additional federal appropriations to combat the disease. She has also introduced bipartisan legislation to commit over $44 million annually to fight Sudden Oak Death, which is now threatening the economic viability of California nurseries.

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In 2002, Senator Boxer led a 24-member delegation – including California Poultry Federation President Bill Mattos and other Californians – on a trip to Cuba to promote California agriculture and trade between the two nations. Boxer secured a meeting with Cuban president Fidel Castro for California raisin producers and other agricultural interests. Immediately after the visit, Cuba purchased 100 tons of California raisins.

Senator Boxer has urged U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick to do everything in his power to work with Australian officials to open California table grape market access to Australia. Industry experts estimate that Australia would import over one million boxes of California table grapes per year, a value of over $12 million.

During the 2002 port lockout, as tons of California agricultural products faced spoilage on the docks and thousands of California farmers faced loss of markets and financial disaster, Senator Boxer petitioned both union and management to allow the immediate shipment of perishable goods.

Following the disastrous frost of 1990, Senator Boxer secured $10 million to California's beleaguered citrus growers by getting citrus added to the list of crops eligible for frost loss relief in the 1993 Supplemental Agricultural Appropriation.

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Appalled by the deleterious effects of the 1998-99 citrus freeze on Central Valley citrus communities, Senator Boxer held a meeting with freeze victims and community leaders working to provide aid to suffering families and farmers. She also testified before a joint California Senate and Assembly hearing to assess citrus relief efforts. In March 1999, Boxer successfully secured the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) expansion of its disaster declaration to include food coupons and distribution, food commodities, temporary housing and crisis counseling for people living in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Monterey, Ventura, and Tulare counties.

In 2001, Senator Boxer secured a tax credit for “open-loop” biomass facilities in President Clinton’s budget proposal for FY 2001. Previously, only “closed-loop” biomass facilities – that is, those using crops produced specifically for energy generation – had been eligible to receive a tax credit for electricity production. A majority of the nation’s total biomass presence is located in California, employing more that 3,000 workers and converting approximately 7 million tons of waste annually.

Senator Boxer secured the removal of the Flex Acre Provision from the Senate Freedom to Farm bill. This provision would have permitted subsidized farms to unfairly compete with California produce growers.

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Of the 350 crops grown in California, only about ten are covered by the Federal Crop Insurance program. Senator Boxer helped ensure that non-insured crops in California get equitable disaster relief under the Federal Non-Insured Assistance program.

Senator Boxer continues to strongly support the CalFed process. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, she secured the first federal funding for CalFed - $85 million in FY 1998. The next year, she secured an additional $75 million. She is now working with Senator Feinstein to reauthorize CalFed.

In 1998, Senator Boxer led the fight to secure a reversal of crop insurance policies that would have made crop insurance unaffordable for many of California's high value specialty crop producers.

Senator Boxer successfully secured a delay in the Taiwanese government’s plan to change export standards for American tree fruit. In the summer 1999, Taiwan decided to implement new standards for table grapes and tree fruit exported from the United States. The mid-season change could have resulted in the rejection of California exports, including over 90 containers of fresh California fruit already en route to Taiwan when the government imposed the July 1 deadline.

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Senator Boxer successfully convinced USDA to implement labeling criterion for fresh and frozen poultry that reflects reality. Prior to her advocacy, poultry frozen as hard as a bowling ball was labeled “fresh,” and once thawed was allowed to compete with California’s fresh poultry.

Senator Boxer successfully convinced the government of India to reverse its restrictive trade policy toward California almonds.

Senator Boxer went to bat for California date growers by convincing USDA not to exempt foreign grown Medjool type dates from import inspections.

After strong advocacy by Senator Boxer, President Clinton raised the issue of opening South Korean markets to U.S. beef and pork. When he met with South Korean President Kim in July 1995, the two presidents signed an agreement to open these markets.

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In 1997, just before the peak of the harvest season, imports of critical fruit and grape box components were threatened. Senator Boxer intervened with the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and the box component imports were allowed to enter the U.S., averting a costly disaster for California table grape and stone fruit growers.

In 1998 Senator Boxer wrote USDA Secretary Glickman and the Mexican Ambassador to the United States on behalf of the continuation of the Non-Fumigation Systems Approach for California stone fruit exported to Mexico. The successful program, begun by the California tree fruit industry, USDA, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, County Agricultural officials, and Mexico had been threatened with cancellation by Mexico. The program was extended.

In the late spring of 1998, California stone fruit growers were faced with a ban of the only effective post-harvest fungicide. Senator Boxer successfully intervened with the Environmental Protection Agency to expedite processing of an emergency approval of a new effective and safer chemical, Medallion.

Mindful that success in farming requires accurate and timely weather information, Senator Boxer acted to secure funds guaranteeing uninterrupted service during the weather service privatization transition.

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A strong voice for dairy farmers, Senator Boxer led the successful overturning of anti-dairy laws that had limited California milk producers’ pricing flexibility.

California’s high milk nutrition standards were attacked during Senate consideration of the Traumatic Brain Injury Act and the 1995 Farm Bill. Senator Boxer vigorously defended those high standards from efforts to weaken them. In the face of Congressional efforts to pressure the Federal Trade Commission to investigate California’s standards, Senator Boxer wrote to the FTC in July 1998 to clarify the legality of California’s high standards.

Senator Boxer continues to work with California's dairy farmers to protect them from out-of-state producers who were trying to circumvent state and federal dairy marketing orders.

Senator Boxer persuaded the U.S. Trade Representative to include the issue of Mexico’s unfair treatment of California orchard crops in the North American Free Trade Agreement talks. She has repeatedly raised those concerns so that California growers can continue to market their products to Mexico.

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In response to Senator Boxer’s request, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Trade Representative reached an agreement with Mexican growers in 1996 to stop the dumping of tomatoes in the U.S. market.

Senator Boxer introduced a bill that amends the Andean Trade Preference Act by excluding fresh-cut flowers from the duty-free treatment they were accorded under the Act. California flower growers represent about 58% of the total domestic fresh-cut flower crop.

Senator Boxer secured $35 million in funding for the Farmland Protection Program that protects family-owned farms from being converted to commercial use.

Senator Boxer supported successful efforts to reform the inheritance tax rules and raise tax thresholds so that families can pass ranches and farms to their children and grandchildren. These provisions were part of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. She has voted to eliminate the estate tax entirely for family farms.

Senator Boxer co-sponsored legislation ensuring that farmers using deferred payment contracts not be subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax. The higher tax burden imposed by the minimum tax could spell ruin to marginal family farms across the state.

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California Produce .

Senator Boxer has helped win millions of dollars in federal funding for agricultural research programs that benefit California’s agriculture industry including USDA’s (IR-4) Minor Crop Pest Management Program, the Citrus Tristeza Virus Research Program, USDA’s Silverleaf Whitefly Research, the joint USDA-University of California-Davis Alternative Pest Research Containment and Quarantine Facilities Project.

Senator Boxer won $23.4 million in funding for a new USDA Horticulture and Water Management Research Laboratory in Parlier, California and helped obtain over $12 million to fund the USDA Salinity Laboratory at Riverside.

Senator Boxer assisted organic growers by winning $16 million for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. Additionally, she secured $6 million for the Sustainable Agriculture Technology Development and Transfer Program.

Senator Boxer supported an amendment to the fiscal year 2001 Agriculture Appropriations bill to amend the Organic Foods Production Act to allow sulfites to be used in organic wines. Sulfur dioxide (sulfites) occurs naturally in wine and has a positive effect on a wine's flavor. As a result of this amendment, wine containing sulfites could still be labeled as organic.

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Senator Boxer sponsored a successfully passed amendment to the fiscal year 2001 Agriculture appropriations bill to set aside up to $1 million to develop non-lethal predator control methods. The amendment also requires a report from the General Accounting Office on compliance by USDA and effectiveness of the control measures.

In February 1998, after strong petitioning from Senator Boxer, USDA withdrew proposed organic farming rules that would have put California’s successful and growing organic farmers at a competitive disadvantage. These rules threatened California’s high standards that have established high public trust in the organic foods industry.

Boxer opposed the watered-down organic labeling provision in the 2003 Omnibus Appropriations bill, which allows chickens, pigs, cows and lambs to feed on anything and still qualify for “organic” status.

As a result of heavy snow and rainfall in 1998, an additional 25,000 acres of farmland was threatened with flooding in Kings County. Senator Boxer intervened with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to expedite reviews to allow temporary sandbagging of Success and Kaweah Reservoirs to stop additional flooding in the Tulare Lake Basin. The sandbagging was approved an the additional flooding averted, avoiding additional economic impacts to growers and the local economy.

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