Subject: 1995 Farm Bill Review 7-27-94
From: [email-masked] (IATP)
Date: 1 Aug 1994 21:41:01 -0000
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture

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1995 FARM BILL REVIEW
Volume 1, Number 7
Wednesday, July 27, 1994
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HEADLINES:

- Farm Programs Final Target of GATT Budget Cuts
- Congressional SAWG Plans to Pressure USDA
- Anthan Sees Little or No Change Ahead
- Economists Call for New Farm Spending Focus: Developing Markets, 
Processing Subsidies
- Poll: Farmers Favor Supports for Small to Medium Size Producers, 
CRP
- Researchers Contend CRP Expiration Will Steady Grain Prices
- RESOURCES, EVENTS
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Farm Programs Final Target of GATT Budget Cuts

Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen outlined a $12.3 billion package of 
spending cuts and tax increases last week to help pay for the costs of 
implementing the GATT Uruguay Round.  Most of the $8 billion 
spending cuts are reportedly to come from reductions in  farm 
support payments, and by drawing on a $2 to $3 billion budget 
accounting surplus.

The Senate Finance Committee began July 19  its consideration of 
draft legislative proposals to implement GATT.  The House 
Agriculture Committee met Tuesday to begin mock mark up of 
legislation to implement GATT agriculture provisions.   

Sources: "Bentsen Details 12.3 Bln Dlr GATT Funding Package," EXTEL 
EXAMINER, July 19, 1994; "Administration Says GATT Funding 
Proposals Open to Modification," BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS, 
July 20, 1994. 
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Congressional SAWG Plans to Pressure USDA 

The Congressional Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SAWG) 
met last Friday to discuss moving forward on farm bill policy-making 
recommendations and to follow up on demands made last March for 
greater cooperation between the USDA and congressional members 
during the upcoming farm bill debate.

Founding  Congressional  SAWG members, Representative Sam Farr 
(D-CA) and Representative Charlie Rose (D-NC) wrote to USDA Deputy 
Secretary Richard Rominger March 9 in support of several requests 
made by regional SAWG, farm and environmental organizations 
during the National Dialogue.    Congressional SAWG members say 
they are still waiting for a response to their March letter which calls 
on Rominger to:

%establish a Sustainable Agriculture Coordinator position within the 
USDA office;
%establish a USDA policy statement and mandate for sustainable 
agriculture; and 
%establish clear mechanisms for input from National Dialogue 
participants into budget and farm bill deliberations at the USDA.

The National Dialogue is part of an on-going effort to link diverse 
groups working to promote sustainable agriculture policy options for 
the 1995 farm bill.   

Sources: Letter to Richard E. Rominger, March 9, 1994; Telephone 
interview with Linda Delgado, July 21, 1994.
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Anthan Sees Little or No Change Ahead

The White House and Congress will likely push for little or no 
fundamental farm policy changes under the 1995 farm bill, according 
to DES MOINES REGISTER columnist George Anthan.

In Congress, Anthan reports that Senate Republican leader Robert 
Dole and House Speaker Thomas Foley are calling for the extension of 
traditional farm programs.   Administration officials, including 
Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, Deputy Secretary Richard Rominger 
and Undersecretary Gene Moos, are expected to support similar 
proposals.  

Moos recently told  more than 300 farmers and lawmakers during 
the Great Plains Symposium on World Agricultural Trade that 
"Overall, the new farm bill is not expected to radically change the 
direction of U.S. agricultural policy." 

Should White House officials change their mind and push for reforms 
that reduce farm support, like the Iowa Revenue Assurance Plan 
which would cut farm spending in half,  farm politicians say they'll 
have  a hard time pushing the reforms through the Oval Office. 

"Does Bill Clinton want to take $5 billion away from farmers the year 
before an election?" asked a Washington commodity group 
representative.  "If he does, that bill will be just like Ronald Reagan's 
first farm bill -- dead on arrival."   

Espy is scheduled to present farm bill policy recommendations to the 
Clinton administration by mid-August.

Sources: George Anthan, "Battles on Ag Policy," GANNETT NEWS 
SERVICE, July 17, 1994; "Agricultural Experts Want Changes in Farm 
Policy," FARM & RANCH GUIDE, July 1, 1994. 
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Economists Call for New Farm Spending Focus -- Developing Markets, 
Processing Subsidies

Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City suggest the 
Clinton administration refocus farm spending toward fast-growing 
markets for processed goods in order to preserve farm economies. 

Alan Barkem and Mark Drabenstott, economists who made the 
suggestion in a paper prepared for the bank's quarterly ECONOMIC 
REVIEW, argue that current U.S. farm export programs are heavily 
skewed toward the support of bulk commodities -- where, they say, 
global trade is declining.

Instead, Barkem and Drabenstott say the administration should 
prepare 1995 farm bill legislation with the following 
recommendations in mind:

% Focus on stimulating demand in emerging markets -- such as Latin 
America and Asia;
% Eliminate commodity support programs to encourage farmers to 
shift production to products with higher profit  margins and brighter 
market prospects;
%Eliminate programs that encourage farmers to set aside acreage, 
and thus lower production which puts the U.S.  at a worldwide 
trading disadvantage.

Source: Laurie Morse, "Economists Urge U.S. Farm Policy Overhaul," 
FINANCIAL TIMES, July 19, 1994.
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Poll: Farmers Favor Supports For Small To Medium Size Producers, 
CRP

Results from a poll of more than 500 Illinois farmers indicate that a 
number of producers favor eliminating income and price support 
programs for large producers.

The survey, conducted earlier this year by Harold Guither, professor 
of agricultural economics at the University of Illinois, found that one-
third of the respondents "would prefer to make [subsidy] payments 
only to small and medium-size farms."  Farmers over  50 years of 
age and with gross sales under $40,000 were the strongest 
supporters of this proposal, while more farmers under the age of 35 
favored making federal support payments based on financial need.  
Another 44 percent favor gradually eliminating federal commodity 
programs altogether.

Farmers were also questioned about support for the Conservation 
Reserve Program -- which begins to expire  later this year.  "The 
most preferred policy by about one-third of the respondents would 
be to extend some contracts with new bids on the most erodible 
acres," said Guither.  "About one-fourth would like to extend all 
contracts a few years at the  current rate of payment."

Source: Richard Orr, "Fearing Cutbacks in Budget, Farmers Debate 
Merit, Scope of Subsidies," CHICAGO TRIBUNE, July 18, 1994.
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Researchers Contend CRP Expiration Will Steady Grain Prices 

A private research institute claims commodity prices would remain 
stable if 22 million acres of the Conservation Reserve Program are  
allowed to permanently expire. 

Scott Brown, program director of livestock and dairy for the Food and 
Agriculture Policy Research Institute, says returning CRP land to 
production will remove some of the price volatility associated with 
short crop years and low carryover stocks.

The study estimates that as CRP acres expire, corn production would 
increase to 9.483 billion bushels by the year 2002-03, from an 
estimated 8.75 billion this year.  On-farm corn prices would average 
$2.15 to $2.45 per bushel assuming export demand grows by at least 
200 million bushels.

USDA Deputy Secretary Richard Rominger said during a press 
conference earlier this month that the CRP may be extended long 
enough to permit Congress time to reassess the program in the 
context of the 1995 farm bill.  "Probably one that will get a lot of 
consideration is the short-term extension of the first contracts that 
expire in 1995," Rominger said.

Sources: Lester Aldrich, "End to CRP Seen Holding Grain Prices 
Steady," THE NEIGHBOR, July 1, 1994; "USDA Considering Extending 
CRP -- Rominger," REUTER, July 13, 1994.
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RESOURCES

1994 Policy Manual of the National Farmers Union -- Adopted by 
Delegates to the National Farmers Union 92nd Anniversary 
Convention, March 4-7, 1994.  90 pages.  Contact the NFU Washington 
office for a copy: 600 Maryland Ave., SW, Suite 202 W, Washington, 
D.C. 20024.  Manual provides NFU position on range of farm policy 
issues and includes federal recommendations for future legislation.
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ACTION ALERT

The Congressional Sustainable Agriculture Working Group is calling 
for more members.  Contact your senator or representative urging 
them to join the Congressional SAWG, or contact Linda Delgado for 
more information on upcoming briefings -- (202) 225-2861.
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