Copyright 2001 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.  
Chicago Sun-Times
June 03, 2001, SUNDAY, Late Sports Final Edition
SECTION: FINANCIAL; Pg. 39

LENGTH: 463 words

HEADLINE: Harkin to lead Senate ag committee

SOURCE: Bloomberg News

BYLINE: BY ROGER RUNNINGEN

BODY:
Farmers may get a bigger income safety net, ethanol will receive a boost, and laws governing farms in Illinois and other states may be "greener" after an Iowa Democrat takes control of the Senate Agriculture Committee this week, analysts said.

Sen. Tom Harkin, 61, blames the Republican-written 1996 Freedom to Farm law for the agriculture price crash that's led to almost $ 25 billion in farm bailouts by Congress over the last three years. He calls it the "Freedom to Fail Act."

The 26-year veteran of congressional deal-making is a pragmatist, though, and his leadership of the Senate panel is unlikely to lead to huge changes in farm law or policy, with Republicans still controlling the House of Representatives and the White House, analysts and advisers said.

"You'll see the tension there, but at the end of the day, you've still got to count votes," said Chandler Keys, a lobbyist at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association trade group.

Harkin will take the gavel from Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) as a result of Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont leaving the Republican Party to become an independent, handing control of the Senate to Democrats.

The Iowan favors a farm policy that provides more federal subsidies to farmers when farm prices are low and less when prices are high. Subsidies are fixed, though gradually declining over seven years, in the current law, which allows for emergency government bailouts.

Harkin, vacationing with family in the Bahamas this week, wasn't available for comment. In remarks to Iowa reporters made available by his office, he said his takeover of the Senate committee means "significant changes" in farm programs, with conservation as a centerpiece.

A bill Harkin introduced last month would pay farmers as much as $ 50,000 a year, at a total annual cost of $ 4 billion, to maintain or adopt conservation practices on productive land, slowing soil erosion and improving water quality. If passed, the program would become a cornerstone of farm law.

"This really does mean that the conservation program I've been pushing for a couple of years now will be enacted," Harkin said in the taped remarks. "I think we're going to have a new day for conservation in America."

Current farm law expires Sept. 30, 2002, and must be overhauled. House leaders writing a new farm bill plan to have a measure ready for consideration by Aug. 3. Harkin isn't going to move that fast. The Senate Agriculture Committee, unlike its House counterpart, has not conducted hearings on a new farm bill.

Harkin also pledged to support government incentives to promote ethanol, the fuel made from corn, the No. 1 crop in his state. Beneficiaries include Archer Daniels Midland Co. and the Williams Cos. Inc., the top two U.S. ethanol makers.

LOAD-DATE: June 05, 2001