The Des Moines Register
March 28, 2001, Wednesday
By George Anthan
SOURCE: Washington News Bureau

Washington, D. C. -Iowa State University economist Neil Harl on Tuesday
framed the central issue facing the United States as Congress and the Bush
administration move toward developing a new farm bill.

"The critical question," Harl said, "is if it is important to farmers and
to society whether agriculture is populated by independent entrepreneurs or
serfs."

Harl was one of the organizers of a conference on "Fixing the Farm Bill"
attended by a wide range of experts. The Center for International
Agricultural Finance at Iowa State and John A. Schnittker, an agricultural
consultant, also organized the event.

Speakers included Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, ranking Democrat on the
Agriculture Committee, and Craig Cox, executive vice president of the Soil
and Water Conservation Society in Ankeny, Ia.

Harl said a new national agriculture policy must focus on preserving
competition in the industries that supply farmers and buy their products.

A farmer without competitive options in buying supplies and in selling
commodities "is a relatively powerless pawn," Harl said.

He said a new farm bill should provide resources to the justice and
agriculture departments to take legal action to halt competition-damaging
mergers.

Harkin and Cox said the new farm bill to replace current legislation that
expires at the end of 2002 should include soil and water conservation
efforts.

"The one thing that has not changed" throughout human history, Harkin said,
"is the connection of soil and water supplies to food production."

He said that keying farm subsidies to reducing soil erosion and cleaning up
streams represents "agricultural income support that doesn't say to
farmers: 'Produce more corn. Tear up more land.' ''

The United States, Harkin said, spent twice as much on soil and water
conservation in 1940 than in 2000, measured in 1999 dollars.

Cox said 85 percent of federal spending on agricultural conservation is
aimed at taking land out of production instead of helping farmers produce
crops in environmentally sound ways.

Cox said farmers across the country want federal subsidies that aid those
who are investing in conservation practices.

They believe payments should reflect each recipient's level of conservation
effort and the resulting environmental benefits, he said.

Such a conservation-based farm bill, Cox continued, would ratify "the
unique status and responsibility of farmers and ranchers as the caretakers
of our land, water and wildlife."

Harkin pledged that views put forward at the conference would become part
of the congressional debate on farm legislation.

Copyright 2001, The Des Moines Register

George Anthan can be reached at (703) 907-5005 or [log in to unmask]

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