California is home to the largest food and agriculture industry in the nation. And our state’s 81,000 farms produce half of the nation’s fruits, vegetable, and nuts. 

That’s why Senator Feinstein supports a guest worker program that will provide our agriculture industry with the workers they desperately need. 

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Feinstein has worked for many years to secure a fair share of federal funding for California agriculture.  Our farmers need federal support to prevent and control pest infestations, ensure reliable access to water supply, and maintain competitiveness in the global marketplace. 

It is Senator Feinstein’s hope that California will remain a worldwide leader in agriculture, and our farmers will continue to feed the nation and world.

Priorities:

• Establishing a pilot earned adjustment program for agriculture workers to ease the severe worker shortage being experienced by frustrated farmers across the country.
   
• Securing a fair share of funding for California’s specialty crop farmers.
   
• Providing federal support to ensure our farmers’ continued competitiveness in a global marketplace.
   
• Securing federal dollars for efforts to contain and control pest infestations, and support pest control research.
   
• Providing incentives to encourage farmers to plant bio-fuel crops and produce alternative sources of energy.

Accomplishments:

• Helped pass the Specialty Crop Competitiveness Act, which improves access to foreign markets for U.S. specialty crops and creates a safer and more secure domestic food supply.
   
• Authored the CALFED legislation, which authorized $395 million for a program designed to provide additional water supply and move forward on creating more storage facilities for all water users.
   
• Led Congressional efforts to protect funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) which provides farmers with federal funding to incentivize environmentally responsible production methods and practices.
   
• Senator Feinstein has worked closely with the Department of Homeland Security to improve their agricultural inspections at U.S. Ports of Entry. Prior to Senator Feinstein’s involvement, DHS inspections of agricultural products were ineffective and may have allowed a number of invasive pests to enter the country undetected.
   
• Worked to improve food safety by requiring that all producers include a “verification” step in their mandated food safety plan.  This ensures that the FDA can verify that a facility is producing safe food at any given time.
   
• Introduced legislation in 2010 to reduce the rampant overuse of antibiotic in agriculture that creates drug-resistant bacteria, an increasing threat to human beings.
  
  
• Senator Feinstein led the Congressional effort to end the use of the dangerous pesticide Methyl Iodide, which has been linked to miscarriage, thyroid disease and fetal deformity. It was pulled from the U.S. market in March 2012.