On November 19, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a $2 billion economic relief package for specialty crop growers. The Marketing Assistance for Specialty Crops (MASC) program is a direct result of the work of USApple, its leaders, and our coalition partners. Our outreach to Congress and Secretary Vilsack has focused on the impact of spiraling labor costs and reduction in returns. When the USApple Board met with Secretary Vilsack in March they drove home these points and most recently CEO Jim Bair reiterated the severity of the situation when we met with the Secretary again in October.
USApple provided input to the Department and key Congressional offices regarding the best way to distribute these funds. We emphasized the importance of simplicity, stressing the diversity within the specialty crop industry and the lessons learned from previous programs. The program is modeled after CFAP2 from which apple growers received more than $300 million.
On January 6, USDA announced an additional allocation of $650 million for MASC, bringing the total to $2.65. USDA also increased the maximum payment a grower could receive from $125,000 to $900,000. This is a significant victory for USApple and our coalition partners as we advocated for a larger payment to reflect the higher costs of growing specialty crops. This new payment limit brings the program in-line with other recent assistance programs like CFAP2.