New advocacy agenda puts producers and government at odds

Imagine being a policy maker in U.S. agriculture right now, trying to scope out an agenda that meets your members’ needs, rather than pander to President Donald Trump’s protectionist agenda. Maybe your interests and his merge at some point. But if they’re at odds, you’re on shaky ground.

That’s the dilemma facing groups such as the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA). It touts itself as “the largest and most diverse international association serving the entire fresh produce and floral supply chain, and the only association to seamlessly integrate world-facing advocacy and industry-facing support.”

With that kind of responsibility, it can’t wait for the changing political landscape and its implications for policy to be clearer.

This spring, the association released its 2025 fresh produce and floral public policy agenda, subtitled Charting the Course for Advocacy. It says this agenda is consistent with its commitment to foster industry growth, innovation and long-term success. These days, the strategic importance of advocacy can’t be stressed enough. Theoretically, U.S. growers should prosper under a wellness agenda like the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. But without advocacy for sound policy, that likelihood is a crap shoot.

The association has created an agenda that it says builds on past achievements and builds a stronger future. What that actually looks like is a document that touches on topics that will be familiar to growers on both sides of the border: labour, trade, nutrition and consumption, crop protection and production technology, food safety, supply chain resiliency, sustainability, taxes and the multi-billion-dollar Farm Bill. The latter doesn’t have a Canadian equivalent, but if and when its latest incarnation is passed, it will have a huge impact on North America’s agri-food industry.