It's officially started! The ink is long dry on the 2008 farm bill and we're now starting to gear up for the 2012 farm bill. The House held a hearing April 21 with Tom Vilsack as the witness who testified. The next hearing will be May 3 in Fresno, CA. And House Ag Committee Chair Rep. Collin Peterson (DINO-MN) is already giving interviews on the 2012 farm bill and what to expect. You can see one story by Environmental Working Group here (but please note that EWG's ideas on good subsidy policies are rather different from what I'd like to see - and what many farmers would like to see) and from Reuters here. Here's the key part of the Reuters article to read:
"I've told people we should put everything on the table," said Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson. "My interest is in providing the best, most rational, safety net for the average commercial farmer in this country."
With a two-year lead time, the House Agriculture Committee chairman is opening a review on Wednesday of the U.S. farm subsidies that date from the Depression era and are subject to myriad calls for reform -- or total replacement.
A number of political headaches from farm supports to trade issues, should be treated in the new bill.
Cotton subsidies must be revised to settle a trade dispute with Brazil. Dairy farmers say milk supports failed to stop a ruinous price plunge. Crop insurance costs are exploding. The Obama administration wants to cut subsidies to big farms.
To get there, Peterson invited a debate whether crop supports should be remolded, perhaps into a system that assures overall revenue for a farm. Supports now are paid mostly on the basis of past production of subsidized crops and whether farm-gate prices for them are below targets set by Congress.
Calling the subsidies "Depression-era" makes them sound outdated, but they are really about as outdated as financial regulations. That is, we ought to go back to something much more similar to what FDR gave us, rules that have been changed and dismantled beyond the point of recognition in the past several decades. I'm glad Peterson thinks that everything's on the table, but I am also positive that whatever Peterson thinks the outcome of the 2012 farm bill debate should be is nowhere near what I think it should be. Ditto to Blanche Lincoln, who will hopefully no longer be a sitting U.S. Senator by the time the bill ultimately passes.
If you'd like to make a statement about the hearing on May 3, you can do so by emailing your thoughts to agriculture at mail.house.gov during the 30 days FOLLOWING the hearing (i.e. until June 2). |
