Advocacy in action
 The 2007 Farm Bill
Every 5 years, the US congress must reauthorize legislation
governing agricultural support programs commonly referred to as the
Farm Bill. This process was last undertaken in 2002, meaning that
the Farm Bill is up for reauthorization in 2007. Congress and the
US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have already begun discussing
what the next Farm Bill will look like and have conducted listening
sessions across the country to judge the opinions of America‘s
farmers. I thought I might spend some time in this issue of
“Advocacy in action” to give you an overview of the Farm Bill
process and its impact on American agriculture.
Simply put, the Farm Bill represents federal legislation
addressing a broad range of agriculturally related programs,
including agricultural support, rural development, soil and water
conservation, and domestic food and foreign aid programs. The bill
itself is divided into 10 categories, called “Titles,” as
follows.
Commodity: Provide income support for commodity products
through three programs, including direct payments, counter-cyclical
payments, and marketing loans.
Conservation: Funding for conservation programs, such as
the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation
Reserve Program, which are designed to encourage preservation of
lands not suitable for agriculture.
Trade: Develop and expand commercial markets for US
commodities and provide international food assistance.
Nutrition: Food Stamp Program, school lunch program, and
commodity distribution programs.
Credit: Federal loan programs for farmers and rural
business through the Farm Service Agency and Farm Credit
System.
Rural development: Funding for rural area programs,
including the Rural Community Advancement Program, regional
strategic planning, water and waste facilities, and
telecommunications.
Research and related matters: Supports agricultural
research and extension programs.
Forestry: Authorizes forestry programs.
Energy: Bio-energy programs, renewable energy
systems.
Miscellaneous: Crop insurance and disaster assistance,
country of origin labelling, animal and plant protection, animal
health and welfare, food safety, and organic agriculture.
The 2002 Farm Bill authorized approximately $782 billion in
federal spending. Nutrition programs received the bulk of the
funding, over $555 billion, followed by commodity programs ($142
billion), conservation ($39 billion), and miscellaneous ($38
billion). Given the current federal budget deficit, it is unlikely
that funding in the 2007 Farm Bill will exceed these levels. The
key point for discussion will most likely revolve around
reallocation and prioritization of funding.
The USDA is interested in promoting Farm Bill programs that:
- Ensure next-generation farmers have access to the
business;
- Maximize the competitiveness of US agriculture;
- Effectively and fairly distribute assistance to farmers;
- Achieve conservation and environmental goals;
- Provide effective assistance to rural areas; and
- Address agricultural product development, marketing. and
research issues.
Swine producers do not receive a great deal of direct
compensation from programs included in the Farm Bill, with the
possible exceptions of some conservation programs. Even those
programs have not benefited swine producers to the same degree as
they have producers of other species. The Farm Bill, however, does
impact our industry indirectly through a number of programs,
predominantly included in the trade, research, and miscellaneous
titles. Another area that bears watching in the 2007 bill is the
energy title. The rapid growth of alternative fuels and government
mandates supporting further expansion and development of
particularly grain-based products may have a significant impact on
livestock feeds over the next 5 years encompassed by the 2007 Farm
Bill. And, of course, the profitability of agriculture is subject
to the rising cost of energy inputs among other factors as
well.
The National Pork Producers Council has identified a number of
topics of interest that they will be actively monitoring, including
market access, enhancing competitiveness, controlling input costs,
and defending pork production against activist groups. Animal
activist groups are actively promoting their agendas as potential
amendments to the Farm Bill or even the addition of new titles such
as an animal welfare title. Specifically, pork producers are
interested in topics such as the ethanol mandate, World Trade
Organization talks, conservation programs, and revenue
assurance.
As veterinarians, there are a number of issues of interest to us
as well. Topics such as animal welfare (downer-animal legislation,
sow stalls, and transport issues have all been discussed as
possible Farm Bill issues), antibiotic use, horse-slaughter
legislation, and efforts to further the development of a national
animal identification system, to name a few. To this end, AASV is
actively involved with pork producers, as well as other animal
agriculture groups and allied professional organizations, to
develop a strategy ensuring that issues important to the swine
industry and veterinary profession are addressed as the legislature
moves forward on the 2007 Farm Bill debate, which will likely heat
up following the mid-term elections.
-- Harry Snelson
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