19 



Mrs. Thurman. In 30 days we will be hearing back from you, is 

 that correct? 



Mr. Weber. Yes. 



Mrs. Thurman. We would like to have the third panel, Mr. 

 Wells, Mr. Kirby, Mr. Gallant, Mr. Badger, and Mr. Olszack. We 

 welcome all of you today. 



Mr. Wells, I think we will start with you. 



STATEMENT OF EARL WELLS, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, 

 FLORIDA NURSERYMEN AND GROWERS ASSOCIATION, INC. 



Mr. Wells. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman, members 

 of the subcommittee. Some of the members of the panel will give 

 you more specific circumstances as it relates to the programs. 



Let me say that my mission here today appears to be well on the 

 way to being accomplished, and that is that both the subcommittee 

 and members of the agency have appeared to have recognized the 

 uniqueness of the nursery industry. 



Unfortunately we had to have a catastrophe to bring this about, 

 but I think we can put the whole thing in perspective if we recog- 

 nize that the nursery industry in the United States is a $9 billion 

 industry. It is the sixth largest agricultural industry in the United 

 States. 



By those figures, I think we can recognize as Congressman Lewis 

 said, it is high time that we recognize the uniqueness of the agri- 

 cultural industry. In Florida of course we have a very big portion 

 of that, $1 billion. 



I think what we have seen here today illustrates that the agency 

 has either by design or lack of expertise has not recognized the 

 problems of the nursery industry. They have not recognized that 

 we have 2-. 3-, or 4-year crops. 



They have not recognized the fact that if a grower has a 40 per- 

 cent loss on his annualized crop, what about the losses to his in- 

 ventory that may be good for 2-, or 3-, or 4-years? 



Those things either have not been recognized or else legislatively 

 they cannot be addressed. The disaster programs unfortunately, 

 due to the media, create a perception out there that everybody is 

 going to get their hand in the till or they are going to get help. As 

 we have seen, that is not the case. 



More often than not, we have a lot of disappointed growers. I 

 think one of the best examples of what has occurred to the nursery 

 industry, not to be redundant, but let's talk about the ECP pro- 

 gram. 



The ECP program was probably the best single disaster program. 

 It was a cost snaring program. Let me reemphasize, it was a cost 

 sharing program. The grower was going to pay part of the cost. 

 That was the program that was shortchanged. That is very unfor- 

 tunate. 



Many of the growers in Homestead, Florida, made plans based 

 on the fact that they were going to share the cost, and this pro- 

 gram was going to be fully funded, and it was factored by 50 per- 

 cent. They later came back and added some of those funds back, 

 but the damage had been done in many cases. 



For the sake of time, let me give you one other illustration. The 

 chain link fence. We have gone round and round and round about 



