PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday approved a bipartisan agreement co-authored by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, that would allow families to buy white potatoes using the Women, Infants and Children supplemental food assistance program.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has banned the purchase of fresh white potatoes with WIC funds since 2009.
The agreement approved Thursday is included in the Fiscal Year 2015 Agriculture appropriations bill. The Senate language mandates inclusion of fresh potatoes, but the rule does not apply to French fries or chips. It also requires the government to review all fruits and vegetables in the WIC program, and leaves open the possibility that the potato could be removed again. The USDA would be required to report back to Congress with its findings.
Collins touted the health benefits of the potato Thursday, noting that potatoes are cholesterol-free, fat-free and sodium-free, and it can be prepared in countless healthy ways. A medium baked potato contains 15 percent of the daily recommended value of dietary fiber, 27 percent of the daily recommended value for Vitamin B6, and 28 percent of the daily recommended value of Vitamin C.
“It also defies logic that WIC participants may purchase fresh white potatoes sold at a farmers’ market but may not purchase fresh white potatoes sold in grocery stores,” she said. “Potatoes are an affordable and nutrient-dense food that all WIC participants should be able to purchase regardless of the where they are sold.”
The WIC program is the government’s premier nutrition program for pregnant mothers and their infants. It provides monthly vouchers and specifies which foods can be bought with the funds. White potatoes are the only item of fresh produce that WIC recipients are not allowed to purchase. Sweet potatoes and yams are allowed.
The USDA relied on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, which found in a 2005 study that starches, and white potatoes in particular, are already widely eaten and thus don’t need any support from the program.
The National Potato Council issued a statement Thursday evening praising Collins’ efforts.
“Due to her sustained commitment to Maine’s potato growers, fresh white potatoes may soon be allowed to be purchased by those who participate in the WIC program,” the council said.
Sen. Angus King also weighed in.
“This amendment is a tremendous victory for Maine potato farmers and for low income families who are looking for another healthy and inexpensive food option,” he said.
In addition, the FY 2015 Agriculture funding bill includes language to benefit Maine dairy farmers by requiring the USDA to examine dairy pricing through a pre-hearing procedure long sought by Maine’s dairy farmers. The purpose of the pre-hearing is to consider amendment of the federal milk market order program’s pricing formula.
“Dairy farmers in Maine and across the Northeast region have been under a great deal of financial stress in recent years due to the wildly volatile and fluctuating price of milk,” said Collins. “The language, supported by Maine’s dairy farmers and Maine’s commissioner of [the Department of] Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Walt Whitcomb, prompts USDA to pursue reform of an archaic and convoluted process. Once one of Maine’s most important agricultural industries, just 287 dairy farms remain in our state today, and they are threatened because of the way USDA sets dairy prices.”