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| 2012 Farm Bill Now on Deck |
Chris Clayton DTN Ag Policy Editor
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As the House Agriculture Committee preps for a series of hearings on the 2012 farm bill, Committee Chairman Collin Peterson stressed Friday that he isn't pushing a particular program or agenda on farmers other than staying within the framework of his budget.
The House Agriculture Committee plans to hold hearings soon on the 2012 farm bill. (DTN file photo)"My goal here is to do the best job with the money that we have to provide a safety net for the production farmers out there that are producing the bulk of the food in this country," said Peterson, D-Minn., in a teleconference with reporters on Friday.
Yet, Peterson comes into the hearings that begin next week with a lot of thoughts and questions about the role of direct payments, marketing loans, revenue program and crop insurance needed to build the proper safety net.
In the last farm-bill debate, groups pushed for Congress to reduce or eliminate the $5.2 annual direct payment program, but lawmakers largely resisted changing the program. Peterson continues to question the role of direct payments in setting cash rents or land values. "One of the issues that needs to be looked at or addressed is, are these direct payments being capitalized into land values and rents? And is that making it more difficult for young farmers to get started?"
Further, Peterson is looking at whether crop insurance can be structured in a way to help cover a farmer's whole-farm risk rather than picking winners and losers in price protections being offered.
"Is it right to be doing this by commodity, or should we be doing this with whole-farm type of situation with crop insurance and revenue?" he said. "I've gotten some curious looks from people and some push-back on that, but I've asked people to think about it. You know, that would be a much more market-oriented type of a approach where you could cover your own risk, but the decisions within what you do within your farm are your decisions, not some type of program you are planting towards."
Peterson indicated he sees potential to build on the Average Crop Revenue Election program, but some tweaks are needed given the lack of enrollment in some parts of the country and the complications of the program. Further, ACRE needs to move to a county-by-county pricing mechanism rather than a statewide program to reduce disparities, he said. Peterson also acknowledged that a problem with loan rates is they are so low that they are not effective, but there won't be the money available to raise the rates, either.
"What I tell people is we should put everything on the table and look at it, there's nothing more than that," he said.
Hearings will begin this coming week with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack testifying Wednesday. Peterson then intends to hold another hearing in Washington, D.C., with academics and economists to give a broad overview of the farm situation and then move to hearings around the country. Peterson said he plans hearings beginning in Des Moines, Iowa; Boise, Idaho; Fresno, Calif.; and Cheyenne, Wyo., and to hold another round of hearings in May in Atlanta, Alabama, Texas and South Dakota, as well as a hearing in North Carolina in June. Peterson also noted the committee will hold a hearing on dairy policy in Harrisburg, Pa., on Tuesday.
When lawmakers looked for $1 billion more annually in spending in the last farm bill, the legislation was held up nearly a year by other House and Senate committees as lawmakers demanded changes in exchange for increased funds. Peterson emphasized that the bill will be written within the confines of the farm bill baseline when the bill is written, but he also noted that the baseline will probably shift several times before 2012 depending on economic conditions. But he also added that the 2008 farm bill provided the biggest increases ever in the nutrition and conservation programs and that he wants to protect those as well. "Obviously given the economic situation and people out of work we want to make sure the feeding programs, the nutrition (programs) are there for people during this time." He also said farmers need more technical assistance than is currently provided to make use of the conservation programs.
Peterson said he also is concerned about the potential loss of budget baseline dollars because of the push for cost savings by USDA in contract negotiations with crop-insurance companies. Peterson said one of his Friday meetings was to discuss this issue with USDA officials.
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