McLean, Va. – The joint House-Senate agricultural appropriations conference committee today agreed to a compromise agriculture-spending bill for fiscal 2002 that provides $75 million in market loss assistance for apple growers, reducing by half the $150 million previously approved by the House of Representatives.

“America’s financially parched apple growers are in desperate need of a full glass of debt quenching assistance from Congress, having spent the last five years crawling on their hands and knees through an economic wasteland,” said U.S. Apple Association (USApple) President and CEO Kraig R. Naasz, whose group spearheaded efforts to secure the apple assistance funds. “While no one will refuse this much-needed aid, it’s somewhat discouraging to be handed only half of the assistance previously promised to our nation’s apple growers.

The House of Representatives approved its version of the agriculture spending bill (H.R. 2330), which included $150 million in emergency market loss assistance for apple growers, on July 11. The Senate’s version of this legislation (S. 1191), which was adopted Oct. 24, did not include assistance for apple growers. Although Senate Agriculture Appropriations Chairman Herbert H. Kohl (D-Wis.) pledged to fight for inclusion of the apple market loss assistance measure in conference with the House, the conference committee split the difference between the House and Senate versions in approving $75 million in apple grower assistance.

“America’s apple growers have suffered devastating losses over the past five years, including an estimated $500 million during the last year alone,” said Naasz. “While this assistance will help some struggling apple growers make ends meet, it falls short of the amount of assistance needed to shield still others from financial ruin.”

The agriculture appropriations conference agreement provides a total of $16 billion in discretionary spending for fiscal 2002, compared to total discretionary and emergency spending of $18.7 billion in the fiscal 2001 agricultural appropriations act. The conference report must still be approved by both the full House of Representatives and the Senate, before it can be presented to President Bush to be signed into law.

Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), George Nethercutt (R-Wash.), John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) and James Walsh (R-N.Y.) of the House Appropriations Committee, along with Reps. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), sponsored the $150 million apple assistance measure in the House.

Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), James Jeffords (I-Vt.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) offered, and then withdrew, a similar amendment during the Senate’s consideration of its agriculture appropriations bill, following Sen. Kohl’s commitment to fight for the apple assistance measure in conference.

Apple growers have suffered losses of $1.5 billion over the past five years, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics. Unfairly priced imports of apple juice concentrate, excessive regulatory costs, food retail consolidation, and subsidized foreign competition are among the major factors contributing to the worst economic conditions confronting apple growers in the past 70 years.

The U.S. Apple Association (USApple) is the national trade association representing all segments of the apple industry. Members include 40 state apple associations representing 9,000 apple growers throughout the country, as well as nearly 500 individual firms involved in the apple business. USApple’s mission is to provide the means for all segments of the U.S. apple industry to join in appropriate collective efforts to profitably produce and market apples and apple products.