Not all love for the House farm bill

Yes, the fruit and vegetable community feels good about what was accomplished in the House Agriculture Committee. Close to $2 billion over five years seems like a mind-numbing blessing for speciality crop alliance priorities. After all, excluding commodity purchases and export promotion funds, the fruit and vegetable industry netted nearly nothing in previous farm bills.

If you haven't noticed, however, not all change-seekers were happy with the committee's work.

Here is a link to a blog post from the Grist blog, which states "Speaker Pelosi should work with Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Collin Peterson (D-MN) to include a $40,000 cap on direct payments, close all of the loopholes, and restore the $4 billion stolen from the Conservation Security Program before the bill goes to the floor for debate."

Dan Owns writes in the Blog for Rural America that "The evident defense for this laughable "reform" proposal is the claim that real reform would cost rural Democrats elections. That is complete drivel of the highest order. We've written many times about how poll after poll shows that farmers and rural Americans understand and want real payment limits."

Dan Morgan of the Farm Policy blog had it right:"Despite reservations from the cotton industry about changes in payment limits, the farm bloc will join lobbyists for the fruit and vegetable (blessed with $1.8 billion in new money) to protect the legislation on the floor."

TK: Once the specialty crops lobbyists may have seen a scenario where they went after traditional farm bill targets like commodity subsidies and payment limits arm in arm with of true reformers like Rep. Ron Kind and environmental interests. Now they are firmly linked with the House Agriculture Committee in preserving the farm bill as it emerged from committee. The traditional farm lobby and the specialty crop alliance both need each other to make it through the floor debate this week.