Commission on Payment Limitations Finalized
November 22, 2002

This week Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) announced the third group of members of the Commission on Application of Payment Limitations as provided for in the 2002 Farm Bill. The bill allowed for the members of the bipartisan commission to be chosen by the Secretary, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry of the Senate, and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives. The commission is charged to study the potential impact of further payment limitations on farm income, land values, rural communities, agribusiness infrastructure, planting decisions, and supply and prices of commodities.

The Senate's appointments include Dr. Neil Harl of Iowa State University in Ames Iowa, Ellen Linderman, family farmer from Carrington, North Dakota and Terry Ferguson family farmer from Clinton, Illinois.

In September the House Committee on Agriculture named Gary Ward Black, president of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Inc., Gary Dyer of Phoenix, Arizona, president and chief executive officer of Farm Credit Services Southwest, and Richard Newman, a farmer from Anson, Texas, with a career of service in the USDA.

Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman’s appointments also named in September are William Spight, a farmer from Ripley, Mississippi, Edward Smith, an agricultural economist from Bryan, Texas, and Alice Devine, Vice President & General Counsel for the Kansas Livestock Association from Topeka, Kansas.

USDA’s Chief Economist, Keith Collins will serve as the tenth member of the Commission. Secretary Veneman will appoint one of the 10 members to serve as chairperson.