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November 3, 2000
Congress addresses
sanctions reform, farm aid
Recent passage of the agricultural appropriations bill by the Senate will lead to resumption of trade with several countries and provide significant emergency assistance for farmers, according to the both Texas Farm Bureau and American Farm Bureau Federation officials.
The Senate passed the legislation by an 86-to-8 vote. The House passed the agriculture spending bill (H.R. 4461) on Oct. 11 and the White House has indicated President Clinton will sign it.
Texas Farm Bureau President Donald Patman said he was particularly pleased with the sanctions reform portion of the bill, which lifts the embargo on food and medicine sales to Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea and Sudan. He said he is hopeful those countries will soon begin buying U.S. farm goods as an indication of their support of the sanctions reform measure. Texas farmers and ranchers are particularly interested in trade with Cuba, due to Lone Star State ports being close in proximity with the island nation. Texas Farm Bureau has sent two trade missions to Cuba.
"While the measure lifting the sanctions on Cuba doesn't go as far as we had hoped insofar as creating genuine export opportunities for Texas farmers and ranchers, we view the bill as a step in the right direction," Patman said.
AFBF President Bob Stallman agreed: "Sales of food to Cuba may begin very slowly, due in part to politics and the continuation of restrictions, such as those affecting third-country financing and travel.
However, the agricultural community will continue to work with Congress to further reduce trade restrictions.
"We hope to eventually provide a significant amount of food and feed products—not only wheat, rice, beans and dairy products but also such items as fruits and vegetables and meat—particularly as Cuba builds its tourism industry. This has been a historic action on the part of both the House and now the Senate," Stallman said. "And with President Clinton saying he will sign the bill, it really is a signal to American farmers and ranchers that our country will no longer use food as a weapon."
He said the most immediate result of the sanctions reform is likely to be additional sales to Iran, which accounts for up to $3 billion of the nearly $6 billion purchased annually by the five counties affected.
The farm leader said the $3.5 billion weather assistance package will provide much needed financial assistance for grain and livestock producers who have suffered various types of economic losses. "These funds will not make them whole but they will certainly help those who have endured severe weather problems this year," he said.
Included as part of the assistance package were the following:
•$1.6 billion for crop loss/quality loss/disaster assistance.
•$490 million to livestock producers whose forage was damaged by drought.
•$473 million for dairy producers.
•$80 million for the Emergency Conservation Program to repair damaged farmland and rangeland.
•$13 million for the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation.
•$10 million for livestock indemnity program.
•$20 million for wool and mohair.
"Also important to farmers with program crops," Stallman said, "is that the cap on loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains is being doubled to $150,000. With such low commodity prices, farmers need this additional income to meet increased financial obligations, such items as higher diesel fuel prices and other production costs."
