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Perdue promotes harvest box concept
Story Date: 2/23/2018
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Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 2/22/18
Perdue has a message for all the "America's Harvest Box" haters: We're serious. So serious that Perdue tells POLITICO that House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway is open to considering a small-scale pilot of the program in the 2018 farm bill.
The former Georgia governor has faced withering criticism over the proposal, unveiled last week as part of President Donald Trump's fiscal 2019 budget. But Perdue and his team are defending the idea - and may be even be finding some openness on Capitol Hill, reports Pro Ag's Helena Bottemiller Evich.
"We think it's our responsibility to create new, innovative ideas of delivering food to the people who need it. And this is one area," Perdue said during a tour through California this week, according to the Los Angeles Times. "Obviously there are a lot of logistics concerns to do that. But it's a real idea. It's not a sham."
Farm bill pilot?: "I am encouraged by Chairman Conaway's willingness to consider a pilot program, because new, innovative ideas often need to be introduced in such a way to see that they work as intended and can be implemented by states to best serve recipients," Perdue said in a statement to POLITICO.
Conaway, who has the better part of his chamber's farm bill already written, isn't ruling out including a pilot of the program, according to a committee aide, who cautioned that no decisions have been made. The White House Office of Management and Budget has asked appropriators for $30 million to get a program off the ground this year.
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