AgWeb
02-01-07
Reactions Vary to USDA's Farm Bill Plans
AgWeb.com Editors
Following are a sampling of some of the reactions to USDA's farm bill plans
unveiled Wednesday in Washington by USDA Secretary Mike Johanns:
Senate Ag Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said he was "especially
concerned about the idea to put even more money in the old Freedom to Farm
type of payments."
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said the administration's plan was a "good starting
point for debate."
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.): "Congress will have the final say and set the final
spending limits in the farm bill. It would be unproductive for our trading partners
to assume otherwise."
Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group: "This is not your
grandfather's farm bill. I know there are a lot of folks in the subsidy lobby who'd
like to have more of the same, but I think the Secretary of Agriculture and the
Bush administration have planted the flag of reform." Cook also said, "You end
up eliminating absentee owners who have a lot of income they're trying to shelter
in agriculture. It could be a small-town lawyer or a business executive in
Memphis who's put some money into a cotton plantation."
Sen. Kent Conrad (D- N.D.) called the Bush plan "the good, the bad and the
ugly." He applauded increased ethanol funding but criticized the other ideas.
"The president's policies would put us right back to where we were in the late
1990s, when American agriculture was failing," Conrad said.
Bruce Babcock, director of Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural
and Rural Development, said the plan "actually could mean more money for
Iowa farmers, if we think corn and soybean prices are going to stay high because
of ethanol."