House Republicans presented a proposal Tuesday to help save the farm bill by using it "as a lifeline for Western towns and counties surrounded by vast stretches of tax-exempt federal lands," David Rogers reports for Politico. "The Interior Department now distributes about $400 million annually to
1,900 such local governments under a program known as PILT, or payments in lieu of taxes. But PILT’s funding authorization has expired
with no clear replacement ahead." All counties with federal land get PILT, but the amounts are much greater in the West, where most federal land lies.
The current Farm Bill draft "is expected to generate in the range of $25 billion in
10-year savings from changes in commodity and nutrition programs," Rogers writes. When officials in Western states found out Monday that they weren't included in the proposed $1.012 trillion budget plan, they came up with a new solution to their problems—the Farm Bill. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) told Rogers, “They are thinking about a commitment to make sure we fund it some way. If the farm bill becomes untenable,
then there will be a plan B. So they have a commitment that it will be
taken care of.”
Bishop said he "was skeptical that using Farm Bill savings to pay for PILT would get more Western votes that the bill already has," Rogers writes. Bishop told him, “When I look at the roughly 30 Westerners, who are primarily interested in this, most of them voted for [the Farm Bill] anyway. So, I don’t know if you pick up more than a half-dozen votes.” But he said, “I was for a Farm Bill. Now I am even more so.” (Read more)
Prospects for passage of the bill this month have dimmed because of an impasse over dairy programs between most lawmakers and House Speaker John Boehner. Both the House and Senate bills have "a new margin insurance initiative for dairy farmers which would include supply management tools to guard against over production," Rogers noted in a story last week. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) "has argued that the supply controls are vital to keep down the cost of the insurance program," but Boehner "believes the increased government role amounts to a bridge-too-far in a world of dairy policy which the speaker is already fond of comparing to the former Soviet Union."
"Dairy farmers usually respond to decreasing prices by producing more, resulting in even lower prices. The new program would pay farmers less for losses on milk that's above their normal production," Ana Radelet reports for The Connecticut Mirror. "The current dairy program—the Milk Income Loss Contract program, known as MILC—gives subsidy payments to dairy farmers when prices are low." There are more than 100 dairy farms in Connecticut, and those farmers "received more than $1.5 million from the MILC program in 2012, less than half of what they got in 2009, when milk prices slumped severely. But the MILC program favors smaller farms. Connecticut dairy farmers, while they don’t have huge herds, generally produce too much milk to benefit greatly from the subsidy." (Read more)
There are other obstacles to passing the Farm Bill. Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley's "language to tighten the definition of 'actively engaged' for the purposes of farm-program payments was used as 'one of the selling points in the Senate,' and now "they are having a tough time backing off of it'," in the face of objections from mainly Southern farm interests, reports Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. Agri-Pulse is subscription only, but a free trial is available by clicking here.
Given these and other issues, the "Washington Insider" column of DTN/The Progressive Farmer said "It is becoming ever more likely that another extension of the 2008 farm law will become necessary" by the end of the month, Keith Good reports for Farm Policy.
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| Rep. Rob Bishop |
Bishop said he "was skeptical that using Farm Bill savings to pay for PILT would get more Western votes that the bill already has," Rogers writes. Bishop told him, “When I look at the roughly 30 Westerners, who are primarily interested in this, most of them voted for [the Farm Bill] anyway. So, I don’t know if you pick up more than a half-dozen votes.” But he said, “I was for a Farm Bill. Now I am even more so.” (Read more)
Prospects for passage of the bill this month have dimmed because of an impasse over dairy programs between most lawmakers and House Speaker John Boehner. Both the House and Senate bills have "a new margin insurance initiative for dairy farmers which would include supply management tools to guard against over production," Rogers noted in a story last week. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) "has argued that the supply controls are vital to keep down the cost of the insurance program," but Boehner "believes the increased government role amounts to a bridge-too-far in a world of dairy policy which the speaker is already fond of comparing to the former Soviet Union."
"Dairy farmers usually respond to decreasing prices by producing more, resulting in even lower prices. The new program would pay farmers less for losses on milk that's above their normal production," Ana Radelet reports for The Connecticut Mirror. "The current dairy program—the Milk Income Loss Contract program, known as MILC—gives subsidy payments to dairy farmers when prices are low." There are more than 100 dairy farms in Connecticut, and those farmers "received more than $1.5 million from the MILC program in 2012, less than half of what they got in 2009, when milk prices slumped severely. But the MILC program favors smaller farms. Connecticut dairy farmers, while they don’t have huge herds, generally produce too much milk to benefit greatly from the subsidy." (Read more)
There are other obstacles to passing the Farm Bill. Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley's "language to tighten the definition of 'actively engaged' for the purposes of farm-program payments was used as 'one of the selling points in the Senate,' and now "they are having a tough time backing off of it'," in the face of objections from mainly Southern farm interests, reports Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. Agri-Pulse is subscription only, but a free trial is available by clicking here.
Given these and other issues, the "Washington Insider" column of DTN/The Progressive Farmer said "It is becoming ever more likely that another extension of the 2008 farm law will become necessary" by the end of the month, Keith Good reports for Farm Policy.
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