"The President's signature today is great news for South Dakota farmers and ranchers," Daschle said.

Daschle said that after months of intense congressional debate, hard-working farmers and ranchers in South Dakota and across the nation now have a new, much-improved farm policy that corrects the mistakes of the farm bill initiated in 1996. That policy, the so-called "Freedom to Farm" program, left many farmers and ranchers feeling they had been failed by Washington, Daschle said.

"Since the last farm bill was approved, prices have dropped every single year, and farmers are now receiving roughly half the income they were receiving in 1996," Daschle said. "Far from removing government obstacles to prosperity, the "Freedom to Farm" approach left farmers and ranchers more vulnerable to market fluctuations, undermining the vitality of rural communities in the process. Under Freedom to Farm, emergency bailouts to farmers increased to record levels. I think it is long past time for us to replace that freedom to fail with an opportunity to succeed, and this bill does that."

"After years of vulnerability, this bill establishes a responsible safety net that allows farmers and ranchers to get more money from the marketplace," Daschle said. "Additionally, this bill is the greenest farm bill in history. It makes conservation a centerpiece of farm policy for the first time by increasing conservation funding by 80%."

Daschle said he was pleased that many of the Senate's provisions that were not in the House version were included in the final conference report. The Senate bill raised commodity loan rates, updated yields and bases, increased investments in conservation and nutrition programs, and contained Senator Tim Johnson's meat labeling requirement and ban on packer concentration. With the exception of the ban on packer concentration, all of these provisions are included in the final bill, despite the fact that the House version contained no meat labeling or packer concentration provision and authorized inadequate levels of funding for conservation and nutrition programs.

"This is the first farm bill that I have voted for, and while it is a substantial improvement over current law, our job is not done. A number of challenges remain if we are to assure farmers and ranchers fair, open, and competitive markets," Daschle said. "I am disappointed that Tim Johnson's provision that addresses the ever-increasing concentration in the livestock market was not in the final bill. Tim and I will continue our fight to get this important provision enacted into law."