FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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February 13, 2002

Miller Hails Senate Passage of Farm Bill
Vows to Try to Modify Payment Limits

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) today praised the Senate's passage of a new Farm Bill that is good for Georgia and that will help Georgia's peanut industry make an historic transition from the Depression-era quota system to a market-driven system.

"There is a lot of good news in this bill for Georgia, and I am very pleased we passed it quickly for our farmers and bankers who have been anxiously waiting," Miller said.

The Senate passed the Farm Bill 58-40, and now must negotiate with the House over the differences in their two bills. The current Farm Bill expires at the end of this year, and the new bill will set the nation's agricultural policy for the next five years.

Miller praised the Senate for beefing up the compensation for peanut quota holders, including 25,000 in Georgia. The Senate agreed to increase the five-year payout to quota holders from 10 cents a pound to 11 cents a pound. The House-passed Farm Bill has a 10-cents-a-pound payout, and Miller vowed to keep the higher amount in the final bill.

"For the first time in recent memory, urban and rural Senators have agreed on how we must proceed in the peanut industry. This is a rare occurrence and it did not come without pain in Georgia and in the Southeast," Miller said. "We must keep the higher 11-cent payout to help our quota holders make this tough transition to the new peanut program."

Miller also pledged to try to modify the payment caps added to the Senate Farm Bill, which lowers the annual limit on federal crop payments to farmers from $460,000 to $275,000. The lower cap will hit Southeastern farmers the hardest because they tend to have larger, more costly farming operations than farmers in other parts of the country.

"We've got a pretty simple question here: Are we going to reduce government support when farmers need it the most?" Miller said. "Our farmers in Georgia and the Southeast are struggling with skyrocketing production costs and low commodity prices, and we must not hurt them more with these payment caps."

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