| Much More Than
Dairy –
The Rest Of The Farm Bill Story For
Vermont
WASHINGTON (Wed., May 8) – The new national dairy program
in the farm bill is a big win for Vermont. But Sen. Patrick
Leahy says Vermont also scores well with dozens of other
features of the bill, including a huge boost in conservation
funds, hunger and nutrition program help, organic farming
promotion, specialty crop assistance, and support for home
satellite viewers interested in local-into-local TV service.
The bill also promotes broadband and telecommunications access
in Vermont and rural America.
The U.S. Senate Wednesday completes its debate on the final
version of the new farm bill, with a vote expected late in the
day. It passed the House last week. If the Senate approves the
bill, it goes to the desk of President Bush, who has said he
will sign it.
Leahy, a Senate conferee on the farm bill and former
Agriculture Committee chairman, led on a wide range of issues
important to Vermont in the bill. He worked to maintain and
expand bill language guaranteeing that Vermont will receive
the highest levels of conservation, specialty crop, rural
development and nutrition funding levels ever included in
federal farm legislation.
"The new dairy program is a hard-fought win for Vermont,
but we also got several other major victories on our other
priorities," said Leahy. "It adds up to the best farm bill
ever for Vermont. In several ways, this bill will immensely
benefit our farms and communities and create Vermont jobs. It
will bring millions of dollars to Vermont each year to support
our dairy programs, our specialty crops, our farmers’ markets
and our low-income nutrition assistance programs. The
conservation programs targeted to our region will mean cleaner
waterways, better soils, help in maintaining open space, and
the preservation of family farm businesses."
Throughout the writing of and debate on the Farm Bill,
Leahy, a founder and leader of a bipartisan alliance of
senators from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states --
nicknamed the "Eggplant Caucus" -- worked to ensure that the
final Farm Bill contained provisions ensuring regional equity
in the final allocation of agricultural funds. Leahy is the
only senator from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states on the
Senate Agriculture Committee and was one of only a few
Northeastern conferees in the House-Senate conference. During
debate on the Senate version of the Farm Bill earlier this
year, Leahy and the regional caucus held swing votes critical
for passage of the national dairy program and of other key
components of the bill.
ATTACHMENTS BELOW: 1) Top Non-Dairy Home Runs For
Vermont In The 2002 Farm
Bill
2) (Table) Farm Bill Highlights
For Vermont
NEWS BACKGROUNDER –
TOP NON-DAIRY HOME RUNS FOR VERMONT IN THE
2002 FARM BILL
VERMONT NUTRITION PROGRAMS SAVED --
President Bush has proposed terminating two highly
successful and popular programs which help Vermont farmers,
local communities, seniors and families on the WIC (Women,
Infants and Children) Program -- more than 15,000 Vermonters
participate in those programs. The new farm bill overrides
those cuts and strengthens Vermont’s nutritional safety
net.
More than one thousand Vermont seniors were going to be
denied participation in the senior farmers' market nutrition
program if the Bush Administration’s plan to terminate the
program had survived. Funded at $15 million per year for seven
years under the farm bill, the program ensures that Vermont’s
senior citizens will be able to continue receiving vouchers to
purchase fresh, locally grown farm products at farmers’
markets in Vermont. The assistance also helps local farmers by
expanding demand for their products and helps communities by
providing incentives to maintain these farmers' markets.
Also, several thousand Vermont families on the WIC program
were going to be thrown off the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition
Program – created by Sen. Patrick Leahy in an earlier law,
passed in 1989 – that provides vouchers to purchase fresh
Vermont food products for families on the WIC Program. This
program has been a major incentive for communities throughout
Vermont to establish farmers' markets, by offering an outlet
for the coupons while helping Vermont farmers sell directly to
consumers without having to pay a middleman.
In addition, 1,000 Vermont seniors were at risk of being
taken off a food assistance program called the Commodity
Supplemental Food Assistance Program. The farm bill provides a
one-time boost in funding for Vermont so that the state does
not have to terminate participation in this senior meals
program. The law also gives Vermont additional time to build
caseloads, allowing Vermonters to fully participate in this
program in future years.
Leahy has long been a leader on nutrition and hunger
issues. Leahy as chairman restored "Nutrition" to the title of
the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and
currently chairs the Nutrition Subcommittee.
MORE THAN $72 MILLION FOR VERMONT CONSERVATION
PRIORITIES --
The conservation title of the 2002 Farm Bill includes $17.1
billion in new funding for national conservation assistance
for working farms and forests -- funds to protect open space,
fertile soils, wildlife habitat, and water and air quality.
Though the overall amount is less than the $21.3 billion
championed by Senator Leahy in the Senate version of the bill,
Leahy worked closely with House and Senate conferees to
protect key provisions ensuring record levels of funding for
the Northeast.
One of the most important provisions is language making
Vermont and other low-population states eligible to have first
priority to receive at least $12 million in conservation
assistance each year – a level of funding more than twelve
times the current Vermont allocation, which will greatly aid
the state to address a conservation assistance backlog
estimated at over $16 million.
Leahy also successfully doubled funding for a flexible
conservation and risk management assistance program he had
created for Vermont and 14 other states in the 2001 crop
insurance bill. Last year, Vermont received $500,000 from this
program.
Also within the package of conservation programs lies an
historic increase in Leahy’s Farmland Protection Program – a
working farmland conservation program he authored in the 1996
Farm Bill. Previously funded at $35 million and hugely
oversubscribed by interested farmers, the Farmland Protection
Program (FPP) now will be funded at almost $1 billion over the
next 10 years. Last year, when Leahy inserted $17.5 million in
farmland protection funds into the crop insurance bill,
Vermont received $3.3 million. Since 1996, the FPP program in
Vermont has protected more than 80,000 acres of Vermont’s most
precious farmland.
Other programs already popular in Vermont include the
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), increased in
the new farm bill from $200 million a year to more than $9
billion over 10 years, and the Wildlife Habitat Incentive
Program, increased from $50 million a year to $700 million
over 10 years. EQIP has been used extensively by Vermonters in
the Lake Champlain basin to protect water quality and, prior
to this new funding, was critically oversubscribed with
applications for assistance outstripping available funds by
over five-to-one.
Senator Leahy also supported establishing the new
Conservation Security Program, a program that could send
thousands of dollars a year in direct payments to Vermont
farmers practicing strong conservation programs on their
working lands. Finally, Leahy worked closely with House and
Senate conferees to create a new $100 million conservation
forestry program in the bill that will provide needed
assistance to private forestland owners throughout
Vermont.
NEW HELP AND NEW MARKETS FOR VERMONT SPECIALTY CROPS AND
ORGANICS --
The Vermont delegation worked to add $94 million to the
bill for direct aid for apple growers who have suffered crop
losses in recent years. National apple growers, including
several orchards in Vermont, have sustained losses totaling
$1.5 billion over the past five years, including an estimated
$500 million during the past year.
Senator Leahy, the "father" of the national organic
standards program (which was included in the 1990 farm bill
and will be fully implemented this October), championed
several provisions that will greatly benefit Vermont’s organic
farmers. Included in the farm bill is $15 million for organic
research and extension initiatives, as well as $5 million for
a national organic certification cost-share program which will
provide assistance to farms becoming certified under the
national organic standards program.
Also, certified organic farmers who produce and market only
organic products will be exempted from paying assessments
collected under commodity promotion laws. Vermont has been a
leader in the organic industry: In 1997 nearly a quarter of
the state’s vegetable acreage was in organic production, and
the number of certified organic farms in Vermont has
quadrupled in the past decade.
Vermont farmers and small businesses will also get a boost
from $240 million included for Value-Added Agricultural Market
Development Grants in the bill. Modeled after the successful
pilot program currently run by USDA, this program will give
Vermonters access to grants of up to $500,000 to develop,
promote and market value-added goods throughout the state and
the nation. Leahy also ensured that the final bill includes
authorization of a new program to encourage and sustain local
farmers’ markets – a program originally introduced in a bill
authored by Leahy and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), which they
introduced last fall.
UNPRECEDENTED ASSISTANCE FOR VERMONT’S RURAL
COMMUNITIES –
The final bill contains an unprecedented $1 billion in
mandatory funds to assist rural areas in improving rural
infrastructure, attracting jobs and improving high-speed
internet access to businesses and homes, as well as improved
satellite TV programming offering all local network television
stations (in addition to the whole range of superstations,
premier channels and other choices) to those with satellite
dishes. These provisions are part of Leahy’s ongoing work to
bring local TV stations to rural America for satellite home
viewers and is related to the earlier Hatch-Leahy Satellite
Home Viewer Act and the Burns-Leahy Local TV Act.
The bill provides $360 million to close the backlog of
pending rural development water and waste disposal loans and
grants. It also includes two new programs to help promote
economic development and create wealth and job opportunities
in the most economically challenged regions: Modeled after the
Small Business Investment Program, a new $100 million Rural
Business Investment Program will help provide equity
investment for businesses in underserved areas, and another
$100 million will go to the Rural Strategic Investment
Program, a pilot program to assist communities in developing
and implementing comprehensive development strategies.
A new broadband program will offer low-interest loans to
improve broadband access in communities with populations of
20,000 or fewer. The bill also includes $50 million to help
train firefighters and emergency medical personnel in rural
areas.
The bill also authorizes a $60 million grant program to
promote e-commerce initiatives in rural areas, a program
championed by Leahy and Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.); up to
$1.5 billion annually in funding for rural water and waste
disposal systems, including targeted spending to small
systems; $5 million annually for grants to build rural
broadcasting systems; and $10 million annually for the
National Rural Development Partnership.
# # # # #
|
Farm Bill
Highlights for Vermont |
|
Dairy |
ü
National
Dairy Program: providing payments comparable to
the Northeast Dairy Compact whenever the price for fluid
milk falls below $16.94 per hundredweight on up to 2.4
million pounds of milk annually per producer.
Payments will be made retroactively to December 1, 2001,
and continue through September 2005.
ü
Milk
price support program: reauthorized through 2007 at $9.90
per hundredweight.
ü
Dairy
Research and Promotion: requires importers of dairy
products to pay their fair share.
ü
Dairy
Export Incentives Program: (DEIP) reauthorized to boost U.S.
milk product exports.
ü
Johnes
disease research initiative: Authorizes a new program to
address problems associated with this chronic wasting
disease. |
Vermont dairy farmers
will receive an estimated $9 million this year, and $46
million through 2005. |
|
Specialty
Crops |
ü
Honey: Establishes a new marketing
assistance loan for honey producers.
ü
Apples: provides $94 million in payments
to compensate for market losses due to low prices in
2000.
ü
USDA
Purchases: Requires USDA to purchase at least
$200 million worth of fruits, vegetables, and other
specialty crops annually for school lunch and food
assistance programs.
ü
Exports: Increases Market Access Program to
promote high-value products to $200 million annually by
2006 and provides exporter assistance to address
barriers that restrict U.S. specialty crop
exports. |
Nationally, apple
growers, including several orchards in Vermont, have
sustained losses totaling $1.5 billion over the past
five years, including an estimated $500 million during
the past year.
This program is used to
promote exports of Vermont agricultural
products.
|
|
Corn,
Soybeans& Others |
ü
Boosts payments
to corn, soybean producers and others under traditional
farm programs. Creates a new counter-cyclical
target price program. Allows producers to update
yields. |
Vermont produces
nearly 100,000 acres of corn each
year.
|
|
Conservation |
The conservation title of the Farm
Bill includes $38.5 billion, including $17.1 billion in
new funding for national conservation assistance for
working farms and forests -- funds to protect open
space, fertile soils, wildlife habitat, and water and
air quality.
ü
Farmland
Protection (FPP): Created by Senator Leahy in the
1990 Farm Bill and made a national program in 1996, FPP
will receive $985 million over 10 years to help farmers
purchase permanent agricultural easements on farmland
threatened by sprawl. The program now includes
authorization for new “farm viability” grants to
farmers.
ü
Environmental Quality Incentives
Program (EQIP): Provides $9 billion over 10 years
to address water quality problems associated with crops,
dairy, and other livestock production.
ü
$150
million targeted to VT and 14 other
States: Created by Senator Leahy in crop
insurance legislation of 2001, the Agriculture
Management Assistance program receives an additional $50
million.
ü
Priority
for Under-Served States: Gives priority for annual funding
of conservation programs to states that have not
received at least $12 million in cumulative conservation
funding in that fiscal year.
ü
Provides $2
billion in new mandatory funding for a
Conservation Security Program that makes
incentive payments of up to $50,000 per farm to those
adopting and expanding natural resource stewardship
practices.
ü
Forest Lands Enhancement
Program: Creates a new $100 million program to provide
needed assistance to private forestland owners adopting
good conservation practices on their land. |
Since 1996, the
FPP program in Vermont has protected more than 80,000
acres of the state’s most precious farmland.
EQIP has been used extensively in VT to
protect water quality throughout the state, particularly
in the Lake Champlain Basin.
Vermont received
$500,000 under this program last year.
This level of funding
is 10 to 12 times Vermont’s current funding
allocation. The state’s conservation backlog is
estimated to be over $16 million.
Vermont has almost 4 million acres of
privately owned, eligible forest
land.
|
|
Organics |
ü
Promotion: Exempts farmers who produce and
market 100 percent organic products from paying
assessments under commodity promotion
laws.
ü
Certification: Provides $5 million to help pay
producers’ costs (up to $500 per farmer) of becoming a
certified organic producer.
ü
Research: Provides $15 million for the
Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative
and directs USDA to facilitate access to organic
research conducted outside of the United
States.
ü
Data
Collection: Requires USDA to collect
segregated data on the production and marketing of
organic agricultural products. |
Organic farming is
among the fastest growing segments of agriculture.
Leahy, “father” of the national organic standards, led
on the organic provisions of this bill.
Vermont
currently has more than 200 organic farmers.
This program was first authorized in 1990 but
never before received funding.
This could help in
the development of special programs and products
targeted to organic producers, such as crop
insurance.
|
|
Nutrition
|
ü
WIC &
Seniors Farmers’ Markets Programs: Provides $15 million annually for
a program to assist low-income seniors in buying fresh
produce at farmers markets and extends WIC farmers
markets program one additional year.
ü
Commodity
Supplemental Food Program: Provide a one-time boost in
funding for Vermont to prevent the state having to
terminate participation in this senior meals program.
The law also gives Vermont additional time to build
caseloads, allowing Vermonters to fully participate in
this program in future years.
ü
Food
Banks: Increases funding for the purchase
of fruits, vegetables, and other commodities to be
distributed through State programs and food
banks.
ü
Food
Stamps: Reauthorizes all expiring food
stamp authorities through FY2007, increases benefits for
working families, and broadens eligibility for children,
the disabled, and legal immigrants.
|
Several thousand
Vermonters participate in these programs, created by
Leahy, which the Bush Administration planned to
terminate.
1,000
Vermont seniors were at risk of losing food assistance
through CSFP.
Vermonters could
receive over $1 million per year in additional nutrition
benefits. |
|
Rural Economic
Development
|
The bill contains an unprecedented
$1 billion in mandatory funds to assist rural areas in
improving the rural infrastructure, attracting jobs, and
improving high-speed internet access to businesses and
homes, as well as assistance to finance improved
satellite TV programming which will offer all local
network television stations to those with satellite
dishes.
ü
Water
& Waste Water Grants: $1.5 billion annually in
funding for rural water and waste disposal systems,
including targeted spending to
small systems, plus $360 million additional funding for
this year to address the backlog of pending requests for
funding.
ü
Value-added grants: Provides $40 million per year for
new value-added agriculture market development
grants.
ü
National
Rural Development Partnership: authorizes this successful program
for up to $10 million per year which provides funds for
rural development councils throughout 40
states.
ü
Local-to-Local Television:
The provision
provides $80 million in federal funding to further
implement the LOCAL TV Act sponsored by Senator Leahy
and enacted in 2000. The new law is likely to finance
the construction of two satellites designed to offer
local network television to satellite dish owners
in addition to offering all of the other programming
packages.
ü
Rural
Broadband: A new broadband program will
provide $100 million for low-interest loans to improve
broadband access in rural communities.
ü
Firefighters: $50 million will be spent to help
train firefighters and emergency medical personnel in
rural areas.
ü
Rural
Business Investment Program: Modeled after the Small
Business Investment Company Program, $100 million will
be administered jointly by USDA and SBA to help attract
private equity in rural areas.
ü
Rural
Strategic Investment Program: $100 million for this new
pilot programs to assist rural areas between 50,000 –
150,000 in developing and implementing comprehensive
development strategies.
ü
E-Commerce: Authorizes a $60 million
grant program to promote e-commerce in rural
areas.
|
Vermont applications
for water and waste water grants and loans still pending
at the end of this fiscal year will be eligible for
these funds.
Originally a pilot program last
year, the Farm Bill increases funds available and
redrafts the language to better work for Vermont’s
producers.
Shores up long
term viability for the Vermont Council on Rural
Development
Right now, for
most of Vermont, local residents without access to cable
cannot watch local network television stations such as
WCAX, WNNE, FOX, WPTZ, WVNY, or other local
stations.
|
|
Farm
Credit |
ü
Reauthorizes
USDA farm lending programs and provides greater access
to USDA farm credit programs for beginning farmers and
ranchers. |
|
|
Disaster
Assistance |
ü
Emergency
Assistance for Livestock Producers: Authorizes a new program to
provide assistance to dairy and other livestock
producers to cover economic losses due to natural
disasters.
ü
Emergency
Haying and Grazing: Establishes more flexible
rules for haying and grazing on land enrolled in the
Conservation Reserve Program.
ü
Tree
Assistance Program (TAP) Establishes a new program to
provide assistance to eligible orchardists that planted
trees for commercial purposes but lost such trees as a
result of a natural disaster. |
|
|
Other
Provisions |
ü
Renewable
energy and energy efficiency: Establishes a loan, loan guarantee
and grant program to assist farmers in purchasing
renewable energy systems and making energy efficiency
improvements, funded at $115 million.
ü
Historic
Barn Preservation:
Authorizes USDA to
make grants to farmers to help protect historic barns
that are at least 50 years old.
|
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