WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 4, 2018) – In a new video released today, Baltimore-based Goetze’s Candy Company CEO Mitchell Goetze joins the chorus of voices calling for reform of the U.S. sugar program. The head of the 122-year-old company explains how the outdated U.S. sugar program is harming his business and employees.
“We are one of few food manufacturers left in Baltimore,” Goetze notes. “We feel like we are being forced to pay a price that other confectionary companies that aren’t under the same program don’t have to pay.”
Goetze goes on to urge Congress to take action. “We need to take the politics out of this. It needs to be common sense. The numbers speak volumes. Congress, the time is now to act. Small family businesses and other U.S. manufacturers can’t hold on too much longer.”
The Sugar Policy Modernization Act (H.R. 4265 / SB. 2086), introduced by a bicameral, bipartisan group of federal lawmakers late last year, would reform the outdated and outrageous program. The proposal creates an adequate supply of sugar based on a reasonable competitive approach that reaches from the farm to the retail shelf – without risking an appropriate safety net for farmers. Congress can reform the U.S. sugar program this year as part of its consideration of the 2018 Farm Bill, which sets government agriculture policy.
Goetze’s Candy Company isn’t alone in calling on Congress to reform the U.S. sugar program. To hear what others are saying, watch the Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy’s new video series.
The Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy (AFSP) is a broad-based coalition advocating to modernize the outdated and outrageous U.S. sugar program. Formed by a sizeable group of small, family-owned businesses and manufacturers, retailers, food and beverage companies, trade associations, environmental advocates, taxpayer watchdog organizations, responsible government advocates, think tanks and other organizations, the group’s goal is to help level the playing field for American manufacturers and their families when it comes to being able to create jobs. To learn more about the Alliance for Fair Sugar Policy and the need for sugar reform, please visit FairSugarPolicy.org.