On Monday, President Obama released his budget recommendations for the fiscal year 2011, beginning in October.  Many of the fresh produce industry's priorities are represented in the administration's recommendations.

Specifically, United Fresh supports:

• $10 billion over ten years to reform and improve the school nutrition programs
  
• Full funding ($55 million) for the Specialty Crop Block Grant program
  
• Doubling funding for the Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) program
• Full funding for pest and disease detection and exclusion (Farm Bill sections 10201 and 10202)
  
• $1.4 billion in funding to strengthen America's food safety system

United Fresh is concerned about the following recommendations:

• Proposed user fees to fund certain elements of the enhanced food safety program
  
• The administration has proposed a 20% cut in the Market Access Program 
  
• Enhanced resources to enable EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, in the absence of congressional action to address climate change

"This budget represents a blueprint for President Obama and his administration for the next fiscal year," said Robert Guenther, senior vice president of public policy at United Fresh. "It is now up to Congress to support or reject these proposals as they are ultimately responsible for writing the budget for 2010."