On January 23rd, the Senate will reconvene and begin deliberation on the re-authorization of federal farm bill policy. During the next two weeks politicians will be assessing local support for their various efforts and it's a good time to utilize the local papers as a forum for expression and education. One way to do this is to send a Letter to the Editor (LTE) of your local paper pointing out how your Senator voted on the farm bill and detailing their support (or lack of it) in advancing a farm bill better for family farmers and conservation. It's a way to thank hard working Senators, shine light on the others, and make sure local residents know the difference. We have placed a sample LTE and tips on getting it published on our website at: www.familyfarmer.org. See the TAKE ACTION section. You will also find there a link to the Senate voting record that will show if your Senator supported stalling the passage of a farm bill this year.

The controversial radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh recently got blasted by listeners after attacking farm bill subsidies and calling on the White House to veto the farm bill if it didn't cut agricultural spending. The nationally syndicated show last week started the dialogue by sharing with listeners reports by the Environmental Working Group which detail how farm payments are tilted towards the largest producers. They quoted USDA statistics showing the top 10 percent of U.S. farms received 67 percent of all farm payments, some of these in the millions, while the bottom 80 percent received an annual average of $5,830 each. However, before Limbaugh and crew could warm to their usual rant about "Senate Majority Leader Daschle," and all the "leftist, liberal Government pork-and-spending" their phone lines lit up with calls from usually agreeable "right leaning" rural listeners chiding them for their insensitivity to farmers and the rural plight. A closer analysis shows the Limbuagh team not only misjudged their audience, they also didn't do their homework. The Republican led House farm bill advances a bill with equal spending over ten years with status quo subsidies directing the biggest payments towards the largest producers.

In the closing hours of farm bill debate in 2001, farm groups were upset by delay tactics employed by key Republican Senators that stalled farm bill passage in 2001. Farm groups maintained that with the economic downturn, the tax rebates of 2002, and the war effort, there would be little left to fund agriculture in 2002. So, on December 27, only a few days after sustaining the filibuster that blocked passage of the farm bill, key Republican Senators went to the White House seeking a promise of funding. According to Agweek magazine, the White House granted this wish and has promised they will support $72.5 billion in agricultural funding for the farm bill. Agweek also reported that the White House made it clear they will not support the Democratic Senate version and quoted USDA Secretary Ann Veneman as saying, "the bill written by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, that spends $45 billion over the first five years, is outside the budget." Both the House and Senate versions spend equal amounts over the course of 10 years, the difference being that the Senate version front loads $45 billion into the first five years.

Last year nearly 500 family farmers a week went out of business according to Farm Aid, a national family farm advocacy group. During the same time period the American Farm Bureau Federation increased their national membership by 91,291 "members families." This brings farm bureau membership to a total of 5.1 million "families" during a time when the USDA reports fewer than 2 million total farms. While many question why the number of farmers can be dramatically decreasing while farm bureau memberships soars, the answer lays in the fact that the vast majority of farm bureau members are not farmers at all. Instead they are insurance customers who join the Farm Bureau in order to receive benefits such as rebates on Dodge and Ford trucks and other customer gimmicks. This has raised serious tax issues in the past as the portion of the insurance policy directed towards membership provides tax free income to the farm bureau for lobbying and other uses. While farm bureau leadership keeps the percentage of actual farmer members secret, some estimates place their farmer membership at less than 10%. See "Facts About Farm Bureau Membership" at http://www.familyfarmer.org/sections/meet.html.

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