Political Quotes

“just to reinforce the Hefley amendment that takes the research money away from asparagus, I mean, I do not know how many people in this Chamber like asparagus, but have my colleagues noticed the increased quality of that asparagus? Right now our asparagus farmers throughout this country are facing the competition of losing their ability to produce because of the imports coming in. Vote against the Hefley amendment. Keep the research going for asparagus. This is a very, very small start. Additionally, let me say that Michigan is third in the nation in asparagus production, growing on over 16,000 acres at an average annual value of over $20 million. The asparagus industry is a small farm specialty crop with an average farm size of 65 acres. Asparagus is a very labor intensive crop as it must still be harvested by hand. During the growing season asparagus must be picked by hand daily with the selection of ripe shoots done by hand labor. When Peru was allowed to export asparagus into the U.S. as a result of the Andean Trade Pact, the U.S. asparagus industry was put at an unfair competitive advantage. While U.S. growers pay at least minimum wage, Peru's average wage is $4 a day. The U.S. industry needs a mechanical harvester to reduce the costs of harvest so they can be competitive with foreign competition.”