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Luawanna Hallstrom, a delegate for the California Farm Bureau Federation, encouraged changes on AFBF’s policy on immigration and farm labor during the annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hallstrom, who chairs CFBF’s Labor Advisory Committee, shared some of the challenges faced at her family’s tomato farm near Oceanside, Calif. Next to Hallstrom are CFBF president Doug Mosebar and first vice president Paul Wenger. - Elaine Shein/Capital Press

Two views of new farm bill


House ag chairman: Keep it the same Ag secretary: Change subsidies
Bob Krauter
Capital Press California Editor
January 12, 2007

SALT LAKE CITY - The 2007 Farm Bill will focus on renewable energy, but any similarities to the current legislation are yet to be determined, two key figures in the debate over the legislation said this week.

"We will have a lot of fights getting to where we need to get," U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson said, but he predicted few changes from the current law. "I think the farm bill will look a lot like where we are now."

Peterson, D-Minn., is the new chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee and spoke at the annual meeting of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, however, said the 2002 Farm Bill was "good policy for its time," but economic conditions and opportunities at home and abroad have changed.

He called for new approaches to the bill that would wean farmers away from subsidies.

"In 2001, U.S. agricultural exports had declined five straight years to about $50 billion, but since then exports have risen every year to $68.7 billion in 2006, and they are projected to reach $77 billion in 2007," Johanns said.

Johanns suggested that the 2007 Farm Bill should not focus on a specific monetary level of federal farm crop supports.

In 2000, federal farm subsidies reached a record $32 billion, but Johanns reminded Farm Bureau members that the farm economy was "far from impressive."

"If dollars alone are the answer, why did we not have better performance?" Johanns asked. Currently, farm support levels are about $20 billion and the U.S. farm economy is much improved.

"This suggests that increased subsidies do not equate to a strong ag economy," Johanns said.

Peterson, in his 16th year as a member of the House, pinned the jump in subsidies on the 1996 Freedom to Farm Act, which drove them sharply higher under the law's core market transition payments.

"It didn't work," Peterson said.

Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said delegates to the national conference favored Peterson's vision for a new farm bill.

"If I had to make an assessment right now, I'd say we're probably closer to the concept expressed by Chairman Peterson," Stallman said. "What I heard Secretary Johanns say, and what I heard him say in the past, is we're going to need some massive changes. Yeah, we need to figure out a way to support agriculture, but do it in much different ways than we're doing now. That's frankly not what our delegates are saying now."

Renewable energy

During their presentations, Johanns and Peterson made pitches for a greater emphasis on renewable energy.

Johanns said farmers are finding more profit in growing corn for ethanol production.

"We had 54 ethanol plants in production six years ago producing less than 2 billion gallons a year," Johanns said. "Now we have more than 100 plants producing about 5 billion gallons and there are more than 70 plants under construction."

Peterson agreed that the big driver in the new farm bill will be renewable energy, but said the farm bill should not limit its focus on corn-based ethanol.

"To get to where I think we need to be to produce 50 percent of our energy in rural America, we can't do it with just corn. We will run into the wall at some point," Peterson said. "The future is in cellulosic ethanol."

Changes ahead

Focusing his comments on what is needed in the 2007 Farm Bill, Johanns, noted that USDA has held 52 listening sessions in 48 states, which generated 4,000 comments from farmers, ranchers and others.

"We are looking at all suggestions that have been made," Johanns said. "We've never been in a better position to develop a program that lets farmers work for a profit in the marketplace, not in the mailbox for an envelope from Washington."

Peterson, however, said he has discussed the farm bill with other members of Congress, especially those who serve on budget committees in the House and Senate. Peterson does not expect resistance in gaining the necessary funds for the new farm bill given the fact that federal crop payments have declined in recent years.

One change Peterson supports is a permanent disaster program. He said Congress will pass a $3 billion disaster bill and hopefully include a permanent disaster program in the next farm bill.

Johanns suggested that the farm bill writers in Congress should look at more than total dollars and develop farm programs that are broader in scope and take into account the fact that 60 percent of the nation's farmers receive no cash payments from the federal government.

Bob Krauter is the Capital Press California editor based in Sacramento. His e-mail is bkrauter@capitalpress.com.


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