The last few days have included a series of meetings and informal
discussions among Senate staff and agricultural groups. The landscape has
changed from hour to hour and information has been difficult to obtain.
However, the farm bill slowly made its way from Committee markup and
informal meetings to the Senate floor as of noon on Wednesday, December 5,
2001). This is the bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee
and is known as the Harkin (D-Iowa) bill.
NAWG, as well as representatives of other farm organizations were
invited to a meeting on Tuesday, December 4, 2001, called by
representatives of Senator Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi) and Senator Pat
Roberts (R-Kansas) to receive the latest summary of the newly-revised
Cochran Roberts bill. A copy of this bill in legislative language was just
available to NAWG on Wednesday.
The very basic provisions of the Commodity Title of the Harkin bill are
as follows:
Base Acres and Payment Acres Election to be made on one of the
following methods: (A) Four-year average of: Acreage actually planted
during 1998-2001 crop years and acreage prevented from being planted
because of drought, flood or natural disaster or (B) The sum of: Contract
acreage used to calculate payment for FY 2002 and 4-year average oilseed.
Fixed Decoupled Payments Fixed payments for wheat made over five years
beginning with $.45 per bushel in 2002 and 2003; $.225 for 2004 and 2006;
and $.113 per bushel in 2004 and 2005.
Income Protection Price $3.45 on 100% of acreage
Payment Limitations Fixed and IPP $100,000 LDP and MLG $ 75.000
Loan Rates: $3.00 per bushel
The very basic provisions of the Commodity Title of the Cochran Roberts
bill are as follows:
Base Acres and Payment Acres: Election to be made on one of the
following methods: (A) Four-year average of: Acreage actually planted
during 1998-2001 crop years and acreage prevented from being planted
because of drought, flood or natural disaster or (B) The sum of: Contract
acreage used to calculate payment for FY 2002 and 4-year average oilseed.
Fixed Decoupled Payments over five years: Wheat: $.7292 cents Corn:
$.4128 cents Sorghum: $.4953 cents Barley: $.3440 cents Oats: $.0344 cents
Soybeans: $.5779 cents Other Oilseeds: $0102 per pound
Payment amount of Fixed Decoupled Payments: Multiplication of payment
rate by payment acres by payment yield
Counter-cyclical Savings Accounts Producer to establish a farm
counter-cyclical savings account in the name of the producer in a bank or
financial institutiion selected by the producer and approved by the
secretary that shall consist of (1) Contributions of the producer and (2)
Matching contributions provided by the Secretary. This matching
contribution shall be made based on a formula established by the
Secretary, not to exceed $10,000.00. These payments are to be made on a
pro rata basis not to exceed a budgeted $800,000,00 in FY 2002, increasing
annually up to $1,200,000,00 in FY 2006. These funds may be withdrawn if
the adjusted gross revenue of the producer is less than 90 percent of
average adjusted gross revenue of the producer for the previous 5 years.
Payment Limitations Fixed Payments: $80,000 LDP and MLG $75,000 FFARM
Account $10,000
Loan Rates $2.58 per bushel cap
Summary
In the final hours before consideration of the Harkin bill in the
Agriculture Committe, and before details of the Roberts/Cochran bill were
complete, NAWG offered qualified support for the Harkin bill, believing
that it could provide a vehicle to the conference table. Both bills have
advantages and drawbacks. Our overriding goal is that a farm bill be
passed by the Senate, and be brought to conference, assuring a Farm Bill
this session.
Early this afternoon on December 5th, the Senate voted 73-26 to invoke
cloture on the Motion to Proceed. Therefore, the Senate is now in a
post-cloture period, which means that Senators have 30 hours to speak on
the issue before consideration of the bill itself during which time
amendments including the Roberts Cochran bill will be introduced.
As the Senate continues discussion of the farm bill a point that arises
from time to time is that there are more important issues to be resolved
by a nation at war. However, the agricultural community reminds those who
criticize moving forward on the farm bill that farmers have not shared in
the growth and prosperity enjoyed by other groups in the American economy.
Farmers must have assurance that a farm bill is in place that will allow
them to make production and investment decisions. The American people have
been advised to move forward and to return to our work. An important part
of that is to assure American farmers and ranchers that they will have the
security of a workable Farm Bill.
