May 01, 2002
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email:CGalen@nmpf.org
When deliberations on the 2002 Farm Bill first began more than a year ago, NMPF told members of Congress that what dairy farmers wanted “was a broad portfolio of items, including conservation assistance, animal health programs and trade enhancement – in addition to establishing an economic safety net,” Kozak said. “It's clear that message was heard by Congress, because this legislation is multi-faceted and very diverse in the ways it will positively impact dairy farmers.”
Most of the recent focus on the dairy title of the 2002 Farm Bill was on whether it would include a new countercyclical payment program that will provide direct monies to dairy farmers when market prices drop below a target price. The new system will provide 45% of the difference between a target price of $16.94/hundredweight, and the monthly Boston Class I price. The payments will be made on up to 2.4 million pounds of milk per year, and will be retroactive back to Dec. 1, 2001. The payment program will run through Fiscal Year 2005, and will pay all farmers the same rate, regardless of their location.
“The new countercyclical program is a national program, equally applied to all regions – eliminating the past divisiveness within the industry. It will provide some additional price stability for farmers, who have seen their prices whipsaw by as much as 40% a month in recent years,” Kozak said.
But the Farm Bill also contains several other programs critical to the future of the dairy industry, including:
- Extending the dairy price support program at the current $9.90/cwt. level (through a period of six years);
- Authorizing a new national Johne's disease control program;
- Requiring dairy importers to pay their fair share into the National Dairy Board for promotion and research projects;
- Extending the Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP);
- Increasing Market Access Program (MAP) funds, and;
- Fixing the statutory mandatory inventory and price reporting language to prevent further costly reporting errors by the USDA.
The Farm Bill also increases available funding for dairy and other livestock producers through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). NMPF had been pushing congressional leaders to raise the program's eligibility limits so that more producers would have access to the funding provided for under EQIP. In addition to that program, the final version of the bill includes $2 billion in new money for other conservation initiatives, such as assisting farmers in the development of nutrient management plans.
“This bill recognizes that there's no magic bullet to maintaining the economic stability of the U.S. dairy sector. We can't put all of our eggs in just one basket, and I think Congress deserves credit for recognizing the importance of other factors to the success of our industry, such as environmental assistance,” Kozak said.
Although deliberations on the final terms of the measure dragged on for several months, Kozak said House and Senate agriculture leaders “deserve a great deal of credit for closely listening to farm organizations such as ours, and attempting to balance policy, economic and political priorities. I believe this measure represents a new high-water mark for dairy farmers' relationships with Congress, and much of that is because individual dairy producer organizations worked more closely together than ever before,” Kozak said.