J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 9 POTATO GROWER 9 • Maintaining vital resources for agricultural export promotion programs through the creation of a new Foreign Market Development Program at USDA. • Supporting continued oper- ation of the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and vital pest and disease prevention and eradication programs. All these items were included in the final Farm Bill. This new bill is an outstanding outcome for the potato industry and all of agriculture. Beyond the five-year certainty the new Farm Bill provides for rural America, for us it contains major new investments in specialty crop research and restores a vital trade program we rely on to remove pota- to export barriers. We sincerely appreciate the hard work of Chairman Pat Roberts (R- Kansas) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) on the Senate Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry Committee, along with their counterparts Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D- Minnesota) on the House Agriculture Committee. They were tireless in pursuit of completing a new bill and their tenacity was rewarded with the strongest bill ever for specialty crops. The Senate vote was believed to be the largest ever in support of a Farm Bill.