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January 18, 2002

Farm bill needed
'sooner than later'

By Mike Barnett
Editor

A new farm bill wasn't in the cards as Congress adjourned in December, but it wasn't due to lack of trying by the nation's largest farm organization.

"Largely through our efforts to implement our policy, I believe the farm bill got as far as it did," American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman said at a kickoff press conference at AFBF's 83rd annual meeting in Reno, NV this month. "And while there's still some disagreements about the details of the new farm bill, I hope you realize it was quite an accomplishment to achieve the consensus that now exists."

That consensus is that both the House and Senate now agree new farm legislation is needed "sooner than later," which wasn't the case for much of last year.

Also, Stallman said AFBF and a coalition of agriculture groups were instrumental in getting the Bush ad ministration to recommit to the $73.5 billion additional funding to the budget resolution.

"So while there may be some disputes still to be resolved, most of the players are at least heading down the same highway, if not in the same lane," said Stallman, former president of the Texas Farm Bureau.

While praising the House of Representatives in diligently passing new farm legislation under the leadership of House Ag Committee Chairman Larry Combest, he had less kind words for the Senate, who failed to bring their version to a vote before the December recess.

"The House did an excellent bipartisan job and spent two years getting the farm bill cleared," he said. "We'd like to see the Senate do the same thing in a bipartisan fashion. And that's what we're going to work for when they come back.

"Farmers and ranchers in this country aren't concerned about whatever political strategies are trying to be implemented in Washington, D.C. They want results."

The failure to pass farm legislation in 2001 by the Senate only adds to the uncertainty for farmers and ranchers as they enter the 2002 planting season. Stallman said it would be very difficult—but not impossible—to finish, conference and implement a farm bill before planting begins.

"And that's what our producers are standing back and looking at along with their bankers, as to what does the future hold as they go forth to finance and plant this year's crop," he said. "Certainly the delay has caused some concern and increased uncertainty in the countryside."

Another concern is what may happen to farm bill funding as Congress starts budget talks this spring, with new budget numbers revised downward due to a poor economy, and what that may mean in the political debate.

Stallman and others hope the Senate will move on the farm bill when the session resumes Jan. 23. Sen. Majority Leader Tom Daschle has said it will be one of the first items on the agenda. What must happen—given the divergent positions the Senate took before the recess—is an amendment or "coming together" to get the votes necessary to move a farm bill.

"Now exactly how that's going to work I wish I knew," Stallman speculated. "We're going to be in there trying to encourage senators—both Democrats and Republicans—to come together, make some changes here, make some changes there, to get a consensus bill that we can move forward through Congress."

Stallman predicted the shape of the final farm bill would be a compromise between the Daschle bill now pending in the Senate and the House bill. He said that if a new farm bill is not implemented for 2002 crops, "there's a pretty good chance" for a fifth consecutive year of supplemental assistance payments.

"It's uncertain and unfortunate that producers can't go to their bankers and say this is what's going to happen, because we really don't know," Stallman said. "I fully expect that we would receive another supplemental assistance payment—absent some miraculous increase in prices—which I don't see on the horizon by any stretch."

Meanwhile, Richard Newpher, executive director of AFBF's Washington, D.C. office, predicted a new farm bill will be passed out of the Senate by early Spring.

"The farm bill to us is the rural economic stimulus package that's needed in America," Newpher said. "And it goes hand in hand with the general stimulus package. I can't imagine going through another budget situation and another emergency supplemental next August. So I would predict in February or early March, we will have a farm bill passed out of the Senate, conferenced and on the president's desk. And the president will sign it."