With both the House and Senate having now passed their own versions of the Farm Bill, members of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA) met twice this week at United Fresh headquarters to develop priorities for the final bill which will be developed by conferees in coming weeks. "Combing through more than 1,500 pages of legislation in the House and Senate bills is both tedious and tremendously important," said United Fresh Vice President of Public Policy Robert Guenther, who also serves as the SCFBA’s secretariat. "Our side-by-side analysis of the two bills helps us focus on which specific provisions we prefer from the House and Senate, and shapes where the Alliance will make our final push down the stretch on the Farm Bill," Robert said. Key fruit and vegetable industry priorities, including national expansion of the USDA Fruit & Vegetable Snack Program, increased funding of Specialty Crop Competitiveness projects, and new investments in food safety research and in combating invasive plant pests and diseases, are among the major programs United Fresh and the Alliance will fight for in the final bill. For more information, contact United Fresh Director of Legislative Affairs and Associate Counsel Autumn Veazey, 202-303-3427.