Frank Riggs: “I wish the gentleman from Massachusetts could devote so much time and energy to helping us address the competitive and…”

“I wish the gentleman from Massachusetts could devote so much time and energy to helping us address the competitive and trade disadvantage that our wine exports have against Chilean and European wines. But the gentleman was correct when he said last year in conference we restructured the MPP, now known as the Market Access Program, to restrict direct participation of for-profit corporations that are not small businesses while requiring a direct match from any small business that participates in this program. These reforms should silence this unwarranted criticism of the Market Access Program. The accusations that corporations are advertising products at taxpayers expense are simply not true. The primary emphasis of this program, as has been pointed out repeatedly over the last few minutes of debate, is toward the small family farmer. Historically, 60 percent of market access promotion funds have gone to generic advertising; the remaining 40 percent is allocated to brand promotion, with priority again given to small entities. I quote from the act: In addition, a sizable number of large corporations receiving market access promotion moneys are actually grower cooperatives. All benefits those organizations derive from brand assistance under this program are directly returned to their grower members, who themselves tend to be small and medium sized operations.”