The nearly trillion-dollar federal farm bill now wending through Congress could make history by sowing small-scale assistance among farm policy that for 80 years has focused on America”™s so-called program crops: corn, wheat, rice, cotton and oil seeds.
This year”™s hoped-for change in attitude is accompanied by regional Congressional sway ”“ “a dog in the fight,” as one farmer said ”“ that in the past was nonexistent or, when briefly present as in 2008, was crushed by program-crop states.
The last federal farm bill dates to 2008 and expired in January, typical of its five-year cycle. Congressional budgeting, however, must reckon with expenses 10 years into the future at nearly $100 billion per year: $955 billion. Agriculture program funding since January has been stopgap.
In 2008, regional black dirt conservation efforts were scratched late in the process. But this year unlike previous years, according to onion farmer Chris Pawelski, “We have a dog in the fight,” meaning a U.S. senator and House members on the right committees.
“For those who don”™t grow those program crops, it is so tough to get any changes in the law,” said Pawelski, who tills 99 acres in Orange County”™s village of Florida with his father and brother under the Pawelski Farms banner. “To say it”™s like pulling teeth is an understatement. The Midwest benefits from a lot of programs created in the New Deal when these were the primary crops.”
U.S. Reps. Sean Maloney and Chris Gibson authored a small-crop insurance provision, called CROP, which survived House of Representatives scalpels in committee 36-10 and is now part of the larger House version of Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) act of 2013. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.
Maloney, a Democrat from Cold Spring, also revived provisions that died in 2008 to preserve the rich black dirt of the sort Pawelski farms.
The Senate May 21 took up its version of the bill, which, if passed, would need to reconcile with the House version before a final vote by both chambers. Presidents typically embrace farm bills, but George W. Bush did not and saw his veto of the 2008 farm bill overridden 80-14 in the Senate and 317-109 in the House. “Agriculture tends to be bipartisan,” said Pawelski, a fourth-generation farmer. “I”™m a member of the farmers party; whoever can do the most for farmers ”“ Republican or Democrat ”“ that”™s who I”™m for.
“The difference this year is we have someone on our team in the Senate; last time we had no one,” said Pawelski. John Hall, former 18th District representative, “got a black dirt conservation provision in the 2008 bill, a major accomplishment. But when the Senate took up the bill, Tom Harkin” ”“ junior senator from Iowa ”“ “saw it as a threat and it was removed. We had no dog in the fight with the Senate agriculture committee.”
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand now sits on the committee. But highlighting the sausagelike nature of making laws, she voted “nay” May 14 in committee, objecting to what she saw as “drastic cuts” to the federal supplemental nutrition program, SNAP. The legislation moved to the full Senate on a 15-5 vote.
The Senate took up its farm bill May 21 and immediately moved to strike $333 million in tobacco insurance subsidies over 10 years, indicating the horse-trading will continue.
On May 17 the Congressional Budget Office wrote the Senate”™s agriculture committee in response to a budget inquiry.
“CBO estimates that direct spending stemming from the program authorization in S. 954” ”“ the FARRM act ”“ “would total $955 billion over the 2014-2023 period. That 10-year total reflects the bill”™s authorization of expiring programs through 2018 and an extension of those authorizations through 2023, consistent with the rules governing baseline projections that are specified in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.”
Pawelski lauded Gibson, R-Kinderhook, and Maloney, for their legislative work in the House of Representatives. As a federal farm adviser for 17 years he routinely traveled to Washington, D.C., to testify at hearings; now as a board member of the Orange County Vegetable Growers Association, he advises Albany. He acknowledged the federal process is fraught with politics: “The House is a funny animal,” he said. “The whole farm bill has so many working parts it”™s tough to figure what”™s going to happen.”
Besides specialty crop insurance and black dirt efforts, Maloney and Gibson have worked to include support for farmers markets and a program to help young farmers get started.
Maloney said specialty crops generate $1.4 billion for New York”™s economy each year, fully one-third of New York”™s agriculture output. “The Hudson Valley economy thrives on specialty crops, including fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops,” he said.
Mark Adams is president of the Dutchess, Westchester, Putnam Farm Bureau. He also grows the garden plants and flowers inside five acres of greenhouses for Adams Fairacre Farms, with stores in Wappinger, Newburgh, Kingston and Poughkeepsie. “I”™m the farmer on site,” he said.
“My worry is there will be no vote this year,” Adams said. “If there”™s no vote before the summer recess, I hope it comes back in the fall.”
Adams said multiple storms ”“ like Irene and Sandy in successive years ”“ require a reinvention of the wheel bureaucratically before help arrives. “The point is to make things run more smoothly,” he said. “We”™re talking about food here, which is important.”
Adams said the state”™s dairy farmers “have their backs to the wall.” The issue is less profound in southern New York, “But in St. Lawrence and Essex counties, I don”™t know what they”™d do without dairy.”
So-called non-point pollution ”“ when nutrients leave the barnyard and field for rivers and streams ”“ is another issue of concern for Adams. One solution is manure digesters. “They look like those industrial Hess oil tanks you see along the river,” he said. “And they are expensive. But it”™s a fact a lot of agriculture is low-lying near creeks and rivers.
“Instead of talking about handouts, we”™d like some of the taxes we pay to come back to the farmers,” Adams said. “You know the bumper sticker that says, ”˜No farms, no food”™? The other day I saw one that said, ”˜No farms, no beer.”™ That guy must be a hop farmer.”
Fantastic article … again thank you for your excellent agricultural coverage!