WASHINGTON, December 13 — Rep. Kat CammackR-Floridaissued the following press release:
Representatives. Kat Cammack (R-FL-03) and Darren Soto (D-FL-09) led the Florida Congressional delegation by sending a bipartisan letter to House and Senate owners, urging them to relieve specialty crop insurance providers who face high administrative and operating (A&O) costs.
In 2011, a cap on reimbursement of administrative and operating expenses (A&O) was established to ensure that when the prices of crops such as corn, wheat, soybeans or cotton increase, the A&O costs associated with policies of these crops also do not increase significantly. . Unfortunately, specialty crops did not experience the same price increase as row crops, but were subject to the same A&O caps, resulting in a large decrease in specialty crop insurance funding.
For example, the downward pressure on specialty crop financing has made it more difficult for crop insurance providers to offer specialty crop insurance policies to producers in Florida and elsewhere, which in turn threatens the long-term survival of our nation’s specialty crop growers
The letter follows the one sent by Rep. cammack and Rep. soto in June of this year, and asks the House Appropriations Committee to provide relief in the FY23 Farm Appropriations Bill to ensure that specialty crop insurance policies are not tied to this A&O cap
“Florida has gone through immense difficulties over the past few months, and our producers are struggling to cope with all the obstacles that stand in their way,” said Rep. cammack. “My colleague Rep. soto and have worked to address these inefficiencies within the specialty crops industry by ensuring fair and equitable access to insurance for our farmers, and with the FY 2023 farm credit budget still ongoing, there is no better time than now to relieve our producers who so desperately need it.”
The letter won the support of the Florida Agricultural Bureau (FFB), Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association (FFVA), and the Association of Crop Insurance Professionals (CIPA)
The original signatories of the letter include Representatives Cammack, Al Lawson, Bill Posey, Darren Soto, Gregory Steube, Gus Bilirakis, Maria Elvira Salazar, Michael Waltz, Neal Dun, Scott Franklinand Sheila Cherfilus McCormick
The full text of the letter can be found here (https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:f25f50ab-8d7a-377a-9e97-686668c2aa2e).
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Original text here: https://cammack.house.gov/media/press-releases/reps-cammack-soto-lead-bipartisan-letter-house-senate-appropriators-requesting
