Packaging and Plastics WG built upon the advocacy started last year to push back on Canada’s aggressive actions to eliminate plastic packaging in the produce sector. This year, Federal Affairs hosted a delegation of Members of Parliament on a visit to Washington D.C., where this was a key focus of discussion with the Administration and Members of Congress. WG also hosted a Canadian government delegation on farm tours to walk through the industry’s existing efforts in the space and discuss the challenges — and opportunities — within the produce packaging landscape. WG has expanded its work in produce packaging beyond Canada, helping launch a North American-wide effort by the produce industry around packaging. Advanced Clean Fleet (ACF) Rule With the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) role in granting approval for California’s electric vehicle mandate, Federal Affairs proactively weighed in with the agency to urge against a federal waiver for the ACF rules to move forward. We have argued the practical difficulties and ultimate costs that these rules would have on Californian growers and the impact on food inflation nationally. Farm Bill WG continued to push forward on our members’ Farm Bill priorities. We were able to secure several victories (all preliminary until a bill passes) that would expand eligibility for our community to access the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) disaster and conservation programs. We have secured increased funding for research and development, including dedicated funds for mechanization and automation. Finally, we have also secured improved access to crop insurance programs for those in our industry who want it. If the current Farm Bill is extended into 2025, we will continue to fight for these priorities in any new bill. Pesticides While WG continues to emphasize the use of existing crop inputs that are under threat from various court mandated remedial measures, we have also aggressively been pushing for swifter registration of cutting-edge, biological-based alternative products. In that regard, WG has been leading dialogue with the EPA to work toward streamlined registration of new products that matter most to our membership, as well as facilitating EPA engagement with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to create uniform standards and processes between them. We have built on our leadership in this space by successfully advocating for next generation research for select crops through the IR-4 Project, a USDA funded program to help accelerate development of and approval for crop protection tools in the fruit and vegetable space.
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