--
Be sure and read Sen. Grassley's article in Sunday's
des Moines register in which he states that Iowa gets
more money from commodity programs than conservation
programs and thus increasing the percentage of the
farm bill that goes to conservation without increasing
the budget for the total farm bill "hurts Iowa". This
is going to be a big problem in getting his support.
Charlie

> From Debbie Neustadt
>
> With Congress coming back from recess, I thought I
> would recap where the
> Farm Bill is and what/who the players are.
>
> The Combest Bill passed out of committee before the
> recess. I have
> posted the problems with the bill. The Sierra Club
> is working on a
> letter to congress and once it is finalized I will
> post it. This letter
> explains in detail what we don't like about the
> house bill.
> Representative Kind and Gilgrest have offered an
> alternative that is
> called the Working Lands Bill. The Sierra Club
> supports this bill. The
> Conservation Security Act, which the Sierra Club
> supports  has also been
> introduced but is opposed by House Ag leadership.
>
> The Conservation Security Act has a better chance in
> the Senate where
> its sponsor, Senator Harkin is the chair of the
> Senate Agriculture
> Committee. The following is an edited version of an
> article from
> Feedstuffs Magazine regarding the Farm Bill.
>
>
> Feedstuffs Magazine
> Inside Washington
> By SALLY SCHUFF
> Feedstuffs Washington Editor
> September 3, 2001
>
> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congress returns to Washington
> this week from its
> August
> recess, and despite all the rhetoric about moving
> defense and education
> spending bills first, watch for a fast-moving agenda
> on several
> agricultural
> issues.
>
> Budget pressure will  push action on the new farm
> bill -- maybe.
> Watch for a major attempt on the floor to
> drastically increase spending
> --
> shifting funds from commodity programs -- for
> conservation payments to
> farmers. The bill to watch is HR 2375, the Working
> Lands Stewardship
> Act,
> proposed by Reps. Ron Kind (D., Wis.) from the Upper
> Mississippi region
> and
> Wayne Gilchrest (R., Md.) from the Chesapeake Bay
> region.
>
> Their bill seeks more than $6 billion in annual
> incentive payments to
> farmers to reduce polluted run-off and restore
> wildlife habitat along
> U.S.
> waterways. At last count, it had more than 120
> co-sponsors, many from
> coastal states with substantial political clout, and
> the support of
> several
> environmental groups -- including the Environmental
> Defense and American
>
> Rivers.
>
> Farm bill action in the Senate Agriculture Committee
> is expected
> quickly.
> There, the big question will also be a policy debate
> on status-quo
> commodity
> payments versus a conservation payment agenda.
>
> Conservation payments have support from lawmakers
> whose states don’t
> benefit
> from the billions of dollars that currently only go
> to growers of
> program
> commodity crops. They see conservation payments as a
> more equitable way
> to
> dispense farm payments while buying environmental
> benefits.
>
> Conservation payments are also classified as "green
> box" payments for
> WTO
> purposes and would help the U.S. comply with its
> subsidy reduction
> commitments.
>
> However, taking dollars from states with heavy
> commodity programs
> payments
> and spreading them to other regions would
> essentially amount to a
> redistribution of wealth from farm programs and will
> be hazardous
> politically, any way you look at it.
>
> It’s going to be a long fall.
>
> Copyright 2001, The Miller Publishing Company, a
> company of Rural Press
> Ltd.
>
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