As America heals from the attacks on the World Trade Center the House agriculture leadership is rushing through a farm bill proposal that has been likened to a Texas twister because it moves too fast and causes too much damage. Across the heartland progressive farming, conservation, rural advocacy and religious groups find fault with the bill because it continues damaging commodities payments to agribusiness while doing nothing to combat concentrated markets, reduce oversupply or support ecologically sound, sustainable family farm agriculture. 

Meanwhile, it is rumored that the White House is brokering a deal with House agriculture committee leadership that will deliver fast track (trade promotion authority in exchange for a promise of funding for this pro-agribusiness farm bill. (See story #3 below) The bill may come to the House floor as early as Wednesday of this week (October 3).

2. CONSERVATION AMENDMENT OFFERED TO FARM BILL

As mentioned in the story above, the "Texas Tornado" farm bill to be voted on in the House this week is seriously flawed. In Washington, two strategies have emerged to address the problems. Many farm groups vow to kill the bill outright and focus on a better Senate bill. A coalition of groups advocating for rural America is taking a different approach, supporting an amendment that would greatly improve the conservation title of the bill. The idea is that if the House bill has a good conservation title, the final "hashing out" between the House and Senate can focus on things like competition and better prices (issues that we have every hope the Senate will address in their bill). Thus, groups are supporting an effort by Representatives Boehlert, Kind, Gilchrest and Dingell to add to the House bill an amendment modeled after Kind's Working Lands Stewarship Act (H.R. 2375). Please call the Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121) and ask your Representative to support the Boehlert/Kind/Gilchrest/Dingell Amendment to H.R. 2646! 

Since taking office the President has been struggling to find support for one of his primary legislative objectives; "fast track" or trade promotion authority (TPA). Fast track would give increased powers to the White House to negotiate trade deals with other countries within the World Trade Organization. This effort has been actively opposed this year by a broad coalition of groups who say that US trade policies are undermining labor, farming and environmental interests in America. A month ago White House efforts were thwarted as House Agriculture Chairman Larry Combest (Rep- TX) withdrew his name as a co-sponsor of the Crane fast track bill. Now however, with the vanished federal budget surplus the scuttle-butt around Washington is that the White House has struck a deal with the House Agriculture leadership; give us fast track and we will give you money for your agribusiness farm bill - HR 2646. Commenting on the reports, Niel Ritchie of the Minneapolis based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy said, "Someone needs to tell the Chairman that two wrongs don't make a right."

In an attempt to kill a conservation amendment being offered to the House farm bill by Rep. Kind and Boehlert the nation's largest corn commodity group, the National Corn Growers Association, is accusing conservationists of taking money away from family farm agriculture. On their website at www.acga.org they refer to amendment as "anti-farmer" and urge farmers to use their "cellular phones from their combines" to oppose the effort. However, family farm advocates say the National Corn Growers Association really represents the grain traders not farmers, and are using environmentalists as a distraction to advance pro-agribusiness farm policy. "How can the Kind-Boehlert amendment be anti-farmer if it helps farmers conserve the land they own?" said Larry Mitchell, Washington DC based lobbyist for the family farm directed American Corn Growers Association. "Commodity groups don't want one acre idled," continued Mitchell, "They want full production so they can get cheap corn. This is another example of why the American Corn Growers started during the 1985 farm bill debates, to get real representation for farmers." To learn more about the American Corn Growers Association go to: www.amcga.org

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