July 17, 2001
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email:CGalen@nmpf.org
In testimony delivered Tuesday before the Agriculture panel, NMPF Chief Executive Officer Jerry Kozak expressed NMPF's support for the committee's concept paper, and pledged to help move the proposal from the conceptual stage to enactment into legislation. The Agriculture Committee's concept paper is the result of months of deliberation on the scope of the 2002 Farm Bill. Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) and Ranking Member Charles Stenholm (D-TX) now hope to move the concept draft through Congress later this year.
The outline for the next Farm Bill contains NMPF's number one priority: extension of the dairy price support program for an additional 10 years, at a level of $9.90 per hundredweight.
"The price support program is the dairy farmer safety net; no better or more cost-effective program exists to provide farmers a modest counter-cyclical program to protect against potentially devastating low prices," Kozak said. "The price support program extension will provide for a certain level of stability, which in turn will allow dairy farmers to plan for the future with confidence."
In addition to the price support extension, the Farm Bill draft also reauthorizes the Dairy Export Incentive Program through 2011, at the maximum level allowed under U.S. commitments to the World Trade Organization. Kozak said the DEIP extension was necessary because "until the export subsidy programs of our competitors are eliminated, we must retain an ability to keep a toe-hold in foreign commodity export markets through the DEIP program."
NMPF also expressed its support for the concept paper's reauthorization of the Market Access Program through 2011 at a doubled funding level.
Another of NMPF's priority items included in the Farm Bill draft is reauthorization of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) through 2011 at $1.2 billion annually.
"This provision, along with the $850 million in environmental technical assistance, and the added $300 million in ground water conservation, will help ensure that we maintain the safety and quality of our rural land and water in years to come."
While expressing support for the concept paper, Kozak noted that it fails to include a supplemental payment program for Class III and IV milk as previously requested by NMPF. In addition to that omission, Kozak voiced concern about the lack of authorization for a voluntary Johne's disease control program, stating that a multi-year Johne's program should be funded as part of the Farm Bill, or through some other appropriate legislative vehicle.
In addition to hearing Tuesday from NMPF on the Farm Bill concept paper, the Agriculture Committee will now hear from other farm groups concerning the new draft plan, with the goal of moving the Farm Bill legislation to the full House of Representatives later this year.
To see a full copy of the NMPF Testimony, please go to the Federal Order and Economic Policy section under Government and Industry Issues
The National Milk Producers Federation, headquartered in Arlington, VA, develops and carries out policies that advance the well-being of U.S. dairy producers and the cooperatives they collectively own. The members of NMPF's 31 cooperatives produce the majority of the U.S. milk supply, making NMPF the voice of 60,000 dairy producers on Capitol Hill and with government agencies.
For more on NMPF's activities, visit our Website at www.nmpf.org.
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