Potato Council CEO: Addition key to creating farm bill allies

National Potato Council CEO Kam Quarles says the fight to update the farm bill comes down to a “math problem” — both in how funding is divided and in the shrinking share of congressional districts that are closely tied to production agriculture.

Speaking Feb. 17 at the Idaho Ag Summit in Boise, Quarles said agriculture can’t move farm policy forward by narrowing its coalition. His message: the only workable path is building partnerships with people and districts that aren’t traditionally invested in farming.

Quarles argued that the current farm bill’s structure reflects political reality in the U.S. House, where rural and partially rural districts don’t add up to a majority. He said proposals to separate nutrition programs from the farm bill don’t eliminate that underlying challenge.

He also pointed to a separate “math problem” for specialty crops: most USDA economic relief has flowed to program crops, and specialty crops lack a futures market that provides the kind of price data used in many support programs. Quarles said specialty crop farms face the same economic climate as program crop producers, and warned that without a workable relief approach, bankruptcies are likely.

Quarles co-chairs the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, which praised House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson’s draft bill in a Feb. 18 statement. The alliance said the draft aligns with its priorities and includes major enhancements, including a proposed USDA Specialty Crop Emergency Assistance Framework modeled on past USDA pandemic-era and marketing assistance efforts.

Why it matters

• The farm bill’s future depends on building a broader coalition in Congress, especially in the U.S. House.
• Specialty crop growers face gaps in economic relief and data tools that are more available to program crops.
• Industry groups say proposed changes could create new emergency assistance tailored to specialty crops.

What to do next

• Follow farm bill negotiations in the House and Senate agriculture committees, where coalition-building is likely to shape what advances.
• Watch for details on the proposed Specialty Crop Emergency Assistance Framework and how USDA would be directed to design it.

Source

Original reporting by capitalpress.com: https://capitalpress.com/2026/02/23/potato-council-ceo-addition-key-to-creating-farm-bill-allies/