With mounting pressure to complete a farm bill this year, the Senate Agriculture Committee has begun a piecemeal markup of the different titles of the farm bill. With the release of Senator Harkin's Conservation and Rural Enhancement Act (see story #3 below) much of the committees work reflects the chairman's vision. So far the committee has advanced a highly praised credit title and a controversial energy and forestry title (see #4 below). While the Trade, Rural Development, Nutrition and Research titles are expected this week, the remaining controversial sections, including the Commodities, Conservation and Competition titles, could be marked up as early as Friday, but more likely some time next week.  

The possibility remains that a farm bill may be completed by the end of this session, since it appears that the Senate will not recess at Thanksgiving, but will return to work through mid-December. Still, it's likely there will be major differences between the Senate and House versions so it is possible the bill may spend considerable time and undergo major changes when the House and Senate go into "conference.' Stay tuned.

2. ACTION ALERT TELL THE SENATE TO STAND UP FOR CONSERVATION!

Agricultural Chairman, Senator Tom Harkin has proposed a conservation title that will fund programs to enhance and protect wildlife habitat, keep our water and air clean, and reward farmers for stewardship of working lands. Unfortunately, agribusiness lobbyists are pushing Senate Agriculture Committee members hard to gut conservation funding (see #3 below). We need your help to stop this. If you live in one of the following states, your Senator is a member of the Agriculture Committee: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont or Wyoming.

Please call your Senator (links to individual offices: http://agriculture.senate.gov) and tell him or her: 

"I want a farm bill that gives family farmers the tools to protect our Nation's water, wildlife and wildlife habitat. I urge Senator to support the strongest possible Farm Bill Conservation Title. In particular, I would like to see the Senator support the Conservation Title in Senator Tom Harkin's bill, and any measure that strengthens it. I hope Senator ___________ will strongly oppose any effort to weaken Senator Harkin's Conservation Title."

With the introduction last week of the Agriculture, Conservation and Rural Enhancement Act of 2001 (S. 1628), Senator Harkin officially staked out his stance on the future of America's farms and rural communities. True to the adage, "You can't please everyone," members of the Committee are already gearing up to tinker with the bill in ways certain to help their own constituents. Generally, we can expect a slew of attempts to redirect money from various parts of the bill into the commodities of choice for each Member's state.  

For instance, Senators Lincoln, Hutchinson and Helms are reportedly planning to amend Harkin's bill to more resemble the House Farm Bill (H.R. 2646). That bill directs an overwhelming amount of funds to large producers of a variety of commodities.

While many conservation and farmer groups had hoped that Senator Harkin's bill would devote more funds to conservation, helping family farms and investing in rural development, these groups will likely have to maintain strong alliances simply to protect the funding that is in the bill from the commodity raiders.

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.

The Energy Title, a new addition to the Farm Bill, contains measures that will encourage the production and purchase of biomass-based alternatives to petroleum products, expand on-farm and cooperative renewable energy generation, and assist farmers, ranchers and rural businesses in becoming 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. The Committee also added a measure 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 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.