Friday, April 27, 2012

Senate Agriculture Committee passes its version of new Farm Bill

The Senate Agriculture Committee last night passed its version of the 2012 Farm Bill, which will change commodity programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps. Late revisions aim to appease Southern growers who were upset about what they saw as an unfair tilt toward Midwest corn growers. The vote was 16-5, with two former chairmen from the South and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voting no.

The bill proposes to save an estimated $50.2 billion over the next 10 years by repealing direct cash payments and related commodity subsidies to farmers. Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., estimated the final bill would initially save about $23.4 billion, down from the originally proposed $26.4 billion in savings. The bill calls for investment of $29 billion in a new government-sponsored "shallow loss" insurance program to complement traditional crop insurance. Baseline spending for commodities would be reduced by about one third. Corn's share would drop by 25 percent, cotton and peanuts by 41, and rice by 70.

David Rogers of Politico reports passage of the bill "followed a long night of final adjustments in what proved a vain attempt to buy unity." Cotton got concessions on its revenue-protection program, but corn and soybeans appear to be the biggest winners, Rogers reports, in "what would be an historic shift away from direct cash payments and price supports in favor of new forms of subsidized crop insurance." Because of record farm profits recently, cash payments have been hard to defend. (Read more)

Growers of fruits, vegetables and other non-subsidized crops are happy with the bill because it includes more money for their industry, Bob Meyer of Brownfield Network reports.

According to a statement from Stabenow's office, the changes in SNAP would be: stopping lottery winners from continuing to get assistance, ending misuse by college students, "cracking down" on retailers and recipients engaged in benefit tracking, preventing liquor and tobacco stores from becoming retailers, and stopping gaps that result in overpayment of benefits. The bill now goes up for a vote in the full Senate, after which it would go to the House, where prospects are unclear because of Republican budget-cutting wishes.

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