October 31, 2001
Work on the Senate Farm Bill proposal began in the Agriculture
Committee on Wednesday, October 31. Committee Chairman Tom Harkin
(D-IA) released his bill, the Agriculture, Conservation and Rural
Enhancement Act of 2001 (S. 1628). The committee began a piecemeal
process of considering the eleven titles of the bill, marking up
the Credit title on October 31. Senator Harkin’s credit title
has been praised by farm advocates for spending $50 million on
credit measures and making it easier for beginning farmers to
borrow money to purchase a farm. This title passed unanimously.
November 6, 2001
The Senate Agriculture Committee on Tuesday gave its approval
to the Forestry and Energy titles of the Chairman Harkin’s
Agriculture, Conservation and Rural Enhancement Act of 2001. A new
addition to the Farm Bill this title was strongly supported by
Senators Lugar and Wellstone as well. The title includes $100
million per year in mandatory funding to:
- Encourage the production and federal purchase of
biomass-based alternatives to petroleum products
- expand on-farm and cooperative renewable energy
generation (biomass, wind, solar and fuel cells) with
competitive grants, loans, grants and research funding
- Assist farmers, ranchers and rural businesses to and
become more energy efficient.
The title also contains a research and demonstration program
for carbon sequestration.
The Forestry title, also approved by the committee on Tuesday,
establishes outreach, grants and cost-share assistance to promote
sustainable forestry. It also includes a forest management program
to enhance drinking water supplies and re-authorizes the Forestry
Incentives Program and the international forestry program. The
Committee also added measures to establish fire research centers,
a local forest fire fighting measure, and a provision that would
allow wood that is deemed to be a fire hazard to be removed from
public and private forest lands and used in biomass energy
facilities. The latter measure is somewhat controversial because
it could open the door to increased logging, the grants are
directed toward power plants, and the measure subsidizes
transporting forest products over long distances, which could
actually end up wasting energy.
November 7, 2001
Today the Senate Agriculture Committee passed the Trade title
of the Farm Bill. Provisions in this title include reauthorization
of the Market Access Program for export of U.S. produce, with
funding at $190 million per year ($10 million less than the House
figure). The bill also extends credit to importing countries,
expands the list of practices that are considered to be unfair
trade practices, and contains a provision to promote biotech foods
abroad, expand food exports for international aid purposes, and
seeks to renew food exports to Cuba.
November 8, 2001
Today the Senate marked up the Rural Development and Research
Titles of the Farm Bill.
The Rural Development title includes provisions to expand rural
broadband access, water facilities, community-based value added
enterprises and local business and economic development
provisions.
November 13, 2001
Senator Harkin’s Competition Title was struck from the Farm
Bill on Tuesday, by a vote of 12-9. Democrats Lincoln (AR) and
Miller (GA) joined all the Republicans on the Committee (Lugar,
Helms, Cochran, McConnell, Roberts, Fitzgerald, Thomas, Allard
Hutchinson and Crapo) to kill the title. An attempt by Senator
Wellstone to ban packer ownership of livestock also failed. Thomas
(WY) was the only Republican that voted in favor of a ban, while
Democrats Lincoln, Miller and Nelson (NE) voted against it. These
proposals would have been an important first step in improving the
conditions faced by family farmers battling colossal agribusiness
interests for their fair share of the food dollar. Moreover,
rejection of these important proposals represents tacit
endorsement by the committee of a pattern of vertical integration,
consolidation and overproduction that often makes farmers
sharecroppers on their own land, spreads urban sprawl, degrades
air and water quality and turns America’s heartlands into
economic and social wastelands.
Predictably, those leading the charge against the competition
provisions were the very same agribusiness interests that created
the current situation. "We believe existing laws adequately
ensure that [a strong, free and fair] marketplace continues,"
wrote agribusiness giants Monsanto, Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods,
and Cargill. Other signatories to competition title opposition
letters include the following commodity groups (followed by the %
of the market controlled by the top four firms in that industry,
as determined by Dr. William Heffernan and Dr. Mary Hendrickson):
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (79%), National Pork
Producer’s Council (57%), National Chicken Council (49%),
National Turkey Federation (42%), National Grain Trade Council
(62%), Corn Refiners Association (57%-74%), American Soybean
Association (80%), and the Grocery Manufacturers of America (42%
and climbing, as estimated by Albert Foer of the American
Antitrust Institute). Hope remains that the title can be
re-instated on the Senate floor.
Multi-organization Competition Title statements:
November 14, 2001
The Nutrition Title of Senator Harkin's Farm bill passed
unanimously on Wednesday afternoon, after an alternate proposal
offered by Senator Lugar failed 9-12. Senator Harkin's title
simplifies the eligibility requirements and application process,
bringing them in line with the requirements for welfare and
Medicaid. His proposal also increases food stamp spending by $6.2
billion over 10 years (above the 10-year baseline of $240
billion). Senator Lugar's proposal would have added $4 billion
more than Harkin's bill, but failed when Helms (NC), Hutchinson
(AR) and
