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Veneman to Testify at Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing Tomorrow Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) has invited U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Ann Veneman to testify on September 17th at a hearing on farm bill implementation. The hearing will provide an opportunity for senators to try to make political gains with their farm constituencies over issues where they believe USDA has been too slow to act, taken the wrong course, or not acted at all. On dairy, it is expected that there will be questions about the details of how direct payment to dairy producers are being implemented, as well as the lack of action by USDA on adjusting the purchase prices (often referred to as the tilt) under the dairy price support program and on announcing new invitations for bids under the Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP).In June, IDFA sent a letter to Under Secretary of Agriculture J.B. Penn urging swift action to adjust the tilt between butter and nonfat dry milk prices and arguing against any subsidized exports of butter at this time. USDA has not taken action yet on either of these issues. USDA has accumulated enormous stocks of nonfat dry milk—nearly a 2-year supply—due to misalignment of prices at which the government has been buying surpluses and market values for these products. On DEIP, producers are pushing for government intervention because market prices are low. Conversely, IDFA asked for intervention to bring in additional imports when prices were at all-time highs. Since USDA took the position that the market should correct the high prices, IDFA hopes they will follow a consistent course of allowing the market to correct prices that are low. IDFA is working with members of the Senate Agriculture Committee to make sure they are informed on these issues.
Posted September 16, 2002 |
