Food Vocab Lesson: Specialty Crops

What's a specialty crop? It sounds like something that is perhaps rare and unique. Heirloom varieties of expensive, organic vegetables that most people don't encounter because they are only served in elite restaurants? Turns out, that's not it at all. "Specialty crops" is government-speak for "fruits and vegetables." No joke. The food that people are supposed to eat for optimal health are considered so odd and rare in American Agriculture that they garner the name "specialty crops." And, indeed, they make up only about 3% of our cropland so they ARE pretty special, compared to the commodities grown on the vast majority of our land.

Currently, if a farmer has his or her land enrolled in commodity subsidy programs, then he or she is prohibited from growing specialty crops on that land. Want to rotate between corn and soy? Fine. Want to let the land lay fallow for a year? Go ahead. But if you suddenly want to do a rotation of tomatoes on that land... no way. There's a bill in Congress that would correct this. It's HR 800, sponsored by one of my favorite Congresswomen, Tammy Baldwin of Madison, WI. The bill is just kind of sitting there, quietly, with no real action or attention. Man, I would love to see it pass!!!