Calvert worked with California’s congressional delegation, growers, the Wine Institute and others to secure federal and state funds to fight the pest and the disease. He also worked with UC Davis and UC Riverside to come up with plant species that are disease resistant. Unfortunately, as Calvert points out, the fight against ag diseases continues, referring to the appearance of the Asian citrus psyllid in California, including in his district. The insect can carry a virus that causes a condition known as “citrus greening.” “Frankly, it scared the hell out of us,” he said, adding that the citrus industry in Florida and Texas have been partially destroyed by the virus. “We don’t want that to happen in California so we’ve been working with those states to get the resources farmers and the state need to fight the psyllid.” Calvert said now that the psyllid is here, we need to make sure that they don’t have the disease and don’t spread it. “It’s a real problem,” he said. “We are all working together to find the funding to invest in the research needed in order to find a way to deal with this.” As a former ag committee member, Calvert was quick to address the importance of passing a farm bill that includes programs for research and
development funding for pest and disease prevention, among other programs that benefit specialty crop growers. Because many provisions that are part of the 2014 Farm Bill will expire in the fall of 2018, Congress will take up debate on a new farm bill this year. The bill also includes programs related to production agriculture and controversial nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). As in years’ past, debate around nutrition programs and subsidies for production agriculture will undoubtedly be highly-contentious, making passage of a bill difficult and dependent on bi-partisan support. Calvert acknowledged the importance of each of the major programs that are part of the bill. He stressed the need to ensure that funding is in the bill for research into pests and plants, ag inputs and the development of agtech advancements to help the industry. Tying it back to the psyllid threat, he said research is needed to find an effective way to deal with the pest in the short-term while also developing a long-term solution that eliminates it once and for all. He added that working closely with the citrus industry to stop the threat is crucial.
A supporter of President Donald Trump, Calvert said farmers should already be enjoying and realizing some of the benefits of policy changes being made by the new administration. In particular, he was referring to the Administration’s rollback of Obama era processes and regulations that were more harmful than good to individuals and businesses, adding that such policies were a trademark of that administration. “I think that a lot of people in the farming industry already noticed that there is a new sheriff in town,” Calvert said. “In Congress, we used the Congressional Review Act about 15 times to repeal regulations that made it difficult for small businesses to thrive and also made it tougher for people to find jobs,” he proudly added. As chair of the Interior Appropriations subcommittee, one of the agencies Calvert funds is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He said as chairman, he tries to ensure Congress funds agencies and programs that provide improvements for taxpayers rather than ones that are bureaucratic and create more red tape. “That’s been one of the things that has been very important to me. That’s been a big deal,” he said. On the subject of North American Free Trade Agreement and the trade pact’s renegotiation, Calvert said he voted for the initial agreement and got a lot of blowback for doing so at the time. But things have changed and trade groups like Western Growers and the wine industry are pushing for the deal to be renegotiated instead of terminated. Calvert said he believes in free trade, but like the president, he also believes in fair trade and feels President Trump and his administration are simply trying to equalize the trade imbalances that exist between Mexico and Canada in industries other than ag, even though ag is part of the overall equation. When the president and his administration talk tough on NAFTA it’s with that goal in mind he surmised. He personally doesn’t feel it’s the president’s goal to get rid of it. In the end, he hopes an agreement will be reached that is largely beneficial to everyone. Calvert also addressed two of Western Growers’ members’ top issues. The first was immigration reform and the use of e-verify. The second was infrastructure needs and funding. The e-verify issue is one of Western Growers’ most important issues because
20 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2018
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