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Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is looking forward to pushing some of his priorities in the 2007 Farm Bill.
Grassley, a Republican who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said this week his top priority for the farm bill is to significantly lower the amount that individuals can receive in federal farm program payments. He hopes the Senate's bill does a lot more to lower payment limits than the House of Representatives bill passed July 27.
He characterized the payment limitations passed by the House as "laughable."
In a conference call with agriculture reporters this week, Grassley explained that there are many areas where the Senate farm bill will be similar to the bill passed by the House. But he detailed several specific areas where he will push for a different approach in the Senate bill.
"This month I've told Iowans that I hope the Senate bill will contain a real legitimate payment limitation, with a hard cap of $250,000," said Grassley. "That's to counteract the laughable figure that's in the House bill."
The House version of the farm bill would exclude from federal farm programs any individual with an annual adjusted gross income of $1 million. Grassley has called for a simple cap of $250,000 as the amount that an individual can receive in farm program payments. He has been joined by Democrats and Republicans in calling for a lower limit, and the idea is supported by the Bush administration.
Grassley said his second priority is to implement a ban on meat packers owning their own herds of livestock. The fact that large corporate meat packing operations own their own livestock herds makes it difficult or impossible for an independent farmer to find a fair market for his animals. "I'd actually like for this to be a part of a bigger 'Competition Title' that would include provisions from a bill that I announced about a month ago, called the Agricultural Competition Enhancement Act," said Grassley.
The competition act was introduced by Grassley in July and is co-sponsored by Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl and South Dakota Republican John Thune.
Improving the fairness of markets for livestock producers has been difficult, as Grassley explained that similar provisions were passed by the Senate in 2002 but ultimately defeated when the 2002 farm bill went to conference committee. Grassley said he is hopeful that the competition provisions will make it into the final farm bill this year, as the makeup of Congress has changed significantly since the last time the farm bill was written. "I think that we're going to be able to get it through the Senate. But again, I can't speak for the House of Representatives," he said.
Grassley said another priority he will fight for in the Senate version of the farm bill is a ban on mandatory arbitration in agricultural contracts. He explained that hog farmers often raise animals under contract with a large company and have few options when a contract dispute arises. "I'm not against arbitration, just mandatory arbitration," said Grassley. "I hate to see it be the only way to resolve disputes, because a farmer ought to have access to the courts. Under mandatory arbitration, a farmer doesn't have that court of last resort if he thinks the mandatory arbitration was unfair."
Grassley said he also hopes that the farm bill will solve a longstanding claim by African-American farmers who were unfairly left out of farm programs. He said he'll work to provide "a remedy for African-American farmers who were inadvertently left out of the previous farm legislation. This goes back maybe 10 or 15 years, but it's still not too late to help some of them. It was supposed to help the African-American farmer get justice from the U.S. Department of Agriculture when they were cheated."
Other priorities listed by Grassley include continued support for value-added agriculture initiatives and more support for cellulosic energy development.
The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to begin writing its version of the 2007 farm bill in September. Iowa's other senator, Democrat Tom Harkin, is the chairman of the Senate ag committee.
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