Slicing the pie

We've already the heard the illustration of more people around the table, impatiently waiting with forks ready for a disturbingly smaller pie.

This, one of the first projections of what dollars will be available for the next farm bill, certainly confirms that mental image. Dollars devoted to the next farm bill are projected at $74 billion over 10 years, off $30 billion from an earlier 2006 projection by the Congressional Budget Office. Higher grain prices over the next ten years will reduce farm subsidies, Texas A & M economists say.

James Richardson, co-director, Texas A&M Agriculture and Food Policy Center is quoted saying that greater emphasis on conservation, renewable energy and fruits and vegetables in the 2007 farm bill will diminish funds devoted to the commodity title.

Not without a fight, I'm sure.