Committee reaches Farm Bill agreement as Gazette goes to press

 

Editor’s Note: Just as the Gazette was going to press on Thursday, May 1, an agreement was reached in conference committee on a new farm bill. Since the details would not be available until after we published, we went to the USDA Web site and picked up some highlights of the bill. This is not the final bill. Look for that story in next week’s Gazette.

Highlights of Farm Bill

*Demonstrate fiscal responsibility. 

Spend approximately $10 billion dollars less than the 2002 farm bill spent (past five years, excluding ad-hoc disaster aid)

Uphold President Bush’s plan to eliminate the deficit within five years

Support emerging priorities

Increase funding for renewable energy, conservation, research, rural development and trade

Authorize approximately $5 billion more than the projected spending if the 2002 farm bill were extended

Tighten payment limits

End commodity program subsidies to producers who are among the top 2.3 percent of Americans with an Adjusted Gross Income of $200,000 or higher

Eliminate the three-entity rule and set the payment limit at $360,000

Ensure a strong safety net for producers

Reduce gaps that currently leave producers without a safety net in low yield years

Increase direct payments to provide a more predictable safety net that will withstand challenge

Increase conservation funding by $7.8 billion 

Simplify and consolidate programs

Create new Environmental Quality Incentives and Regional Water programs

Provide $1.6 billion in new funding for renewable energy research, development and production

Target cellulosic ethanol production

Support $2.1 billion in loan guarantees for cellulosic energy projects

Provide $1.6 billion in loans and $500 million in grants for rural communities

Rehabilitate more than 1,200 current Rural Critical Access Hospitals

Decrease the backlog of rural infrastructure projects

Consolidate and simplify rural development programs

Dedicate nearly $400 million to trade efforts

Expand exports

Fight trade barriers and expand involvement in world trade standard setting bodies

Target nearly $5 billion in funding to support specialty crop producers

Increase nutrition in food assistance programs by purchasing more fruits and vegetables

Fund specialty crop research

Fight trade barriers and expand markets

Provide $250 million to increase direct payments for beginning farmers and ranchers

Reserve a portion of conservation funds to support beginning producers

Provide more flexibility in loans for down payments, land purchases and operating costs

Support socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers

Reserve a portion of conservation assistance funds for socially disadvantaged producers

Increase access to down payment, direct operating, and farm operating loans

Simplify, modernize, and rename the Food Stamp Program

Improve access for the working poor and better meet the needs of recipients and States

Strengthen program integrity

Improve disaster relief

Create a revenue-based counter-cyclical program

Ensure gap coverage in crop insurance

Link crop insurance participation to farm program participation

Create a new Emergency Landscape Restoration Program

“These proposals represent a reform-minded and fiscally responsible approach to making farm policy more equitable, predictable and protected from challenge.”  —  Mike Johanns, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture