For the first time, groups representing Latino farmers, ranchers and farm workers will make an organized push to weigh in on the farm bill.

Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., will introduce legislation later this month that may include provisions to strengthen nutrition programs, provide incentives to help Latinos get into the farming business and fund programs for socially disadvantaged farmers.

“The agriculture community needs to recognize the importance of Latinos to agriculture,” said Baca, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. “We’re here to stay. This is just the beginning for us.”

The new coalition of worker, farmer and rancher groups demonstrates the growing influence of Latinos in politics and policy making, said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the William C. Velasquez Institute.

“It’s a sign of maturity,” he said. “There are 50 million of us now. We even have our first Latino presidential candidate” — Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Building the coalition of groups that will back Baca’s bill, including the Latino Farmers and Ranchers National Trade Association and the National Council of La Raza, has taken years, said Gonzalez. Like other new players in the farm bill debate, the groups had little say in the creation of the 2002 farm bill (PL 107-171) — and little motivation to organize around the bill. Baca will seek the Hispanic Caucus’s endorsement of his legislation, which he would seek to have rolled into the new farm bill.

In part, the new effort reflects a growing population of Latino farmers, said Albert Jacquez, a strategist helping organize the groups backing Baca’s measure. In 1997, there were 30,000 Latino farmers. Now, there are more than 50,000.

Jacquez said Latinos are increasingly moving to rural areas, so the farm bill should reflect this diaspora by providing more generous rural housing loans. Additionally, young Latinos who want to get into the farming business should have better access to start-up grants, he said. The Bush administration’s farm bill proposal includes new funding to help beginning farmers.

At the same time, Jacquez and his colleagues are looking to boost funding for nutrition programs, particularly food stamps. Latinos, he said, now make up a significant number of food stamp recipients.

Efforts to expand the food stamp program will be bolstered by numerous non-Latino groups that seek better funding for the nutrition program. Groups including the American Heart Association and fruit and vegetable growers are asking Congress to buy more fresh produce and healthier products for school lunches and other federally subsidized food programs.

The Latino groups may get support in those efforts from numerous lawmakers, including Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who has promised to improve nutrition programs.