Farm bill "basically completed"

Finally, the farm bill conference committee has given us numbers to attach to specialty crop farm bill priorities. Highlighted in red are items that relate to specialty crop priorities, including nutrition and organic programs. What I don't see is the "specialty crop block grant program" spelled out in this press release. The Senate's farm bill had put aside $270 million for specialty crop block grants, and the House had put in $365 million. Here is an earlier comparison of the House and Senate funding priorities for specialty crops. While Sen. Grassley of Iowa had told The Houston Chronicle the block grant program was under pressure, I hope I'm missing something in these numbers - perhaps the research initiative was fattened up in lieu of mandatory funding for the block grant program. Also, nothing spelled out about the f/v planting restrictions on program crop land; that restriction - opposed by the White House - was reportedly on the table in talks with the Administration.

Here are the biggies from Harkin's release:

Child Nutrition: $1 billion to improve child nutrition by expanding the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program nationally.

Specialty Crop Research Initiative: The bill provides $230 million in mandatory funds for this new grants program to help meet the needs of producers and processors of specialty crops in the areas of mechanization, plant breeding, genetics, genomics, pests and diseases, and food safety.

Pest and Disease Detection: Over $400 million over the next ten years for a new program to improve our pest and disease detection capabilities. The bill also provides $20 million for the National Clean Plant Network, which will strengthen our research to improve plant health and eradicate plant viruses.

On an encouraging note, Harkin says the committee is "preparing to send the President a farm bill he can sign.” Still, this coverage from The Denver Post indicates that the conference committee's farm subsidy limits - not spelled out in this press release - still may be well above the stated preference of President Bush.

Conference Committee Adopts Chief Farm Bill Initiatives

New Farm Bill is Basically Completed, Says Conference Committee Chairman

Washington, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and of the Senate-House conference committee on the new farm bill, today announced that the conference committee had agreed upon and approved all major elements of the new farm bill. Staff for the Senate and House agriculture committees and for conferees will continue to work through finalizing a few remaining issues and obtaining official budget scoring from the Congressional Budget Office. The completed legislation will have to be approved by both the Senate and House before being sent to the White House.

“Today’s adoption of all major elements of the new farm bill brings us within a few steps of the finish line,” said Harkin. “The Senate-House conference committee on the farm bill is now in the final stages of a strong, bipartisan bill that that will bring new funding and better policy in core farm bill initiatives – conservation, energy, nutrition and rural development – while continuing and strengthening farm income protection.

“This bill provides support for everything from agricultural research and beginning farmers to protecting our natural resources and helping to feed hungry families. It looks to the future in renewable energy production and it ensures farmers have the income protection they need. Congressional negotiators have come a long way and are preparing to send the President a farm bill he can sign.”

Highlights of the conference report titles include:

Commodities Title:

The bill includes a newly named Producer Income Protection title that continues basic features of the 2002 bill, which farmers have thought worked well, and it gives producers a new option, beginning with the 2010 crop year, to choose to participate in a state-level revenue protection system. The Average Crop Revenue program, modeled after legislation proposed by farmers and introduced by Senators Durbin and Brown, offers producers better options for managing risk of both yield and price declines on their farms in today’s uncertain, rapidly changing farm environment.

Conservation Title:

The new CSP, renamed Conservation Stewardship Program provides incentives for adopting, improving and maintaining sound conservation practices on land in agricultural production. The program will enroll just under 13 million acres each year (starting in 2009) through 2017, for a total of nearly 115 million acres. An additional $1.1 billion was provided for CSP for a total of $12 billion over 10 years.

This title shifts the focus in conservation strongly in the direction of working land conservation. Funding that would not have been used in land retirement programs was redirected to programs that focus on reducing the environmental impact of agricultural production, like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and CSP.

Energy Title:

Increases Biofuels Production: The farm bill will accelerate commercialization of advanced biofuels, like cellulosic ethanol, by helping farmers produce biomass crops, by providing grants and loan guarantees to support these new biorefineries, and by increasing bioenergy research to guarantee that we have a continuing flow of more productive and resource-conservative technologies in the decades to come.

It also expands the very successful renewable energy and energy efficiency program that has been helping our farmers and ranchers and rural small businesses since it was adopted in the 2002 farm bill.

Livestock Title:

The new farm bill includes the first-ever Livestock Title to provide basic protections for producers in livestock and poultry markets. Among the highlights:

Provides producers the ability to decline to be bound by an arbitration clause in a livestock or poultry contract.

Enables a producer to settle a dispute in the Federal judicial district where he or she lives rather than where the company headquarters is located.

Provides the compromise for country of origin labeling of meat, fruits and vegetables, peanuts, pecans and macadamia nuts

Improves oversight of USDA’s enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act be requiring the Department to provide an annual compliance report detailing the number and length of time spent on investigations of potential violations of the Act.

Assist hog producers by authorizing a program for trichinae certification to promote trade and marketing of pork.

Nutrition Title:

Federal Food Assistance: historic investments in fighting hunger and inadequate nutrition, including:

ending benefit erosion caused by inflation

providing food assistance without requiring recipients to exhaust savings and retirement accounts

increasing food assistance to households with high child care costs

$1.25 billion dollars in commodity purchases for food banks

Child Nutrition: $1 billion to improve child nutrition by expanding the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program nationally.

Research Title:

Organic Research and Extension Initiative: The Research Title provides $78 million in mandatory funds for the program, which enhances the ability of organic producers and processors to grow and market organic food, feed and fiber.

Specialty Crop Research Initiative: The bill provides $230 million in mandatory funds for this new grants program to help meet the needs of producers and processors of specialty crops in the areas of mechanization, plant breeding, genetics, genomics, pests and diseases, and food safety.

Rural Development Title:

Rural Water and Wastewater: $120 million in mandatory funds for the pending rural development loan and grant applications for rural water and wastewater assistance.

Value-Added Producer Grant Program: $15 million for the program, which encourages independent producers of agricultural commodities to process their raw commodities into marketable goods.

Rural Microenterprise Assistance Program: $15 million in mandatory funds for the program, which provides technical assistance and small loans to beginning entrepreneurs to help start businesses in rural areas.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables:

Organics: Funding for The National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program has been increased from $5 million in the last farm bill, to $22 million. The farm bill also supports the Organic Data Collection Initiative, which provides USDA and organic producers with national production and market data to effectively market their products.

Pest and Disease Detection: Over $400 million over the next ten years for a new program to improve our pest and disease detection capabilities. The bill also provides $20 million for the National Clean Plant Network, which will strengthen our research to improve plant health and eradicate plant viruses.

Farmers’ Markets: expansion of the Farmers’ Market Promotion Program, first created in the 2002 farm bill, by providing $33 million over the next five years to continue our investment in promoting fresh, local foods.