Whether it’s regular meeting with key staff and Members of Congress on Capitol Hill or federal agencies, providing testimony at committee hearings, submitting regulatory comments, or conducting grassroots advocacy campaigns, United Fresh maintains an active presence on Capitol Hill and in the Administration. United Fresh educates federal lawmakers, agencies, and regulators on the value of a strong produce industry. Our work informs key economic and regulatory issues that impact our industry’s ability to deliver the most nutritious and abundant food supply to the consumer in every state and congressional district throughout the United States.
ISSUES IMPACTING FRESH PRODUCE
COVID-19
As we continue to follow the state of coronavirus, and specifically COVID-19, we’ve created industry and consumer resource page to help address commonly asked questions, and provide resources that can help keep you and your business informed. Your United Fresh government relations team is proactively working on behalf of the industry with the Admistration and Congress to ensure Americans have access to fresh fruits and vegetables and to help United Fresh member businesses. LEARN MORE
Implementing the 2018 Farm Bill
Keeping a strong federal commitment to specialty crops. United Fresh Produce Association is a founding member and coordinator of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA), a national coalition of more than 120 organizations representing growers of fresh fruits and vegetables, dried fruit, tree nuts, nursery plants and other specialty crop products. Each Farm Bill cycle, the Alliance meets regularly and developes a set of comprehensive recommendations which are then presented to Members of Congress and their staff for consideration when drafting the new bill. It is critical that we reach a broad diversity of Members of Congress.
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Food Safety Modernization Act
Ensuring the safety of the fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain, public health and business viability. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
passed by Congress in 2010 and signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011, is the most sweeping reform of our food safety laws in more than 70 years. FSMA changes many aspects of how food is regulated, by aiming to ensure the safety of the U.S. food supply through a focus on prevention, rather than responding after a food safety event has occurred. Today, seven final FSMA rules are in varying stages of implementation, and the fresh produce industry continues to move forward with education, training and compliance to the various regulations, to which they are subject.
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Immigration/Guest Worker ProgramsWorking to implement and secure a legal, stable and reliable workforce. For years, the produce industry and our agriculture sector partners have made an overwhelming case for legislation to reform our broken immigration system. While Congress has come close several times to addressing this issue, fear and politics have always intervened. Our industry must have: 1) legal status for the current workforce; 2) reforms to the current federal agriculture guest worker program known as H-2A; 3) future access to a skilled, dedicated workforce; and 4) NO heightened enforcement legislation that does not contain a solution for agriculture’s problems in attracting and maintaining a workforce.
LEARN MORE NutritionDespite nearly universal understanding that eating more fruits and vegetables is critical to good health, only 1 in 10 Americans meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans’ recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption. United Fresh is the voice of the produce industry in shaping nutrition and health policy in Washington, D.C and we need your help to “make half the plate fruits and vegetables” a reality. A wide variety of information about nutrition policy can be found in the "Nutrition” section of our website.
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Organic PolicyUnited Fresh member companies have come together to create the Organics Working Group as a resource to the industry and to work with the Admistration, Congress and other stakeholders in a way that is streamlined, effective, and transparent . LEARN MORE Tax PolicyTax laws have a profound impact on business decisions. Certainty about tax rates plays an important role in whether fresh produce companies throughout the supply chain expand and hire. As Congress addresses the most comprehensive business and individual tax overhaul since 1986, policymakers must be committed to enacting pro-growth and pro-competitive, comprehensive business tax reform.
LEARN MORE TradeThe U.S. fruit and vegetable industry, and partners around the globe, need to work together with the Administration and Congress to enact only sound agricultural trade policies that preserve opportunities for market access and fair standards for fresh fruits and vegetables. We advocate the benefits of trade including the United States Mexico Canada Agreement and other agreements that create market opportunities for the fresh produce industry . LEARN MORE
Transportation & Infrastructure InvestmentThe produce industry is highly dependent upon an efficient transportation system: from trucking, rail and ocean shipping, to ports and border control facilities. New funding for transportation infrastructure could provide meaningful support to the industry in increased efficiency and lower costs. It is essential that the produce industry has a seat at the table with clear priorities to enhance our industry.
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