Asbury Park Press, NJ
10-29-07
Senators push to end crop subsidies, offer insurance
PURPOSE: Lautenberg says change would aid N.J. farmers
Posted by the Asbury Park Press
BY RAJU CHEBIUM
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON — As the Senate prepares to debate a $288 billion farm bill, a
New Jersey lawmaker has offered an alternative measure aimed at increasing
federal help to Garden State growers and saving taxpayers $20 billion over the
next five years.
Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., seek to eliminate,
not just reduce, the sacred cow of farm policy — agricultural subsidies for
commodity crops like corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat over the next five years.
Instead, their bill proposes a crop-loss insurance program for all farmers that
guarantees they will recoup up to 85 percent of their lost harvests.
"Our bill is intended to help every farmer in America, not just those who grow a
select few crops," Lautenberg said Tuesday before introducing the legislation.
New Jersey "farmers are being hurt several ways. . . . We get one-tenth of 1
percent of the subsidies. Our farmers are looking for help. Temptations are
enormous for them to turn (farms) over to builders and developers."
Lugar said 6 percent of the nation's farmers get 70 percent of federal subsidies
for commodity crops, grown mostly in California, the Midwest and the South.
Fruits and vegetables, so-called specialty crops, dominate New Jersey's
agriculture; they aren't eligible for those subsidies, though growers of these crops
can get money through farmland conservation programs aimed at curbing urban
sprawl.
Lugar said their bill is intended to offer senators a choice as they consider farm
legislation the Senate agriculture committee is preparing, adding that their bill
boosts environmental protection, promotes nutrition and would cut the federal
deficit by $3 billion over five years.
Additionally, the bill seeks to boost federal spending on specialty crop research
and promotion and organic agriculture to $3 billion.
The agriculture committee's farm measure, expected to reach the Senate floor
next week, contains $1 billion for specialty crops. A $280 billion farm bill the
House passed in July contains $1.6 billion for specialty crops.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and a handful of other senators support the
measure. Menendez has a related measure pending in the Senate. That
narrower bill seeks to increase federal spending on conservation, organic
agriculture and specialty crops.
Asked if the Lautenberg-Lugar bill could become law as written, Iowa State
University agricultural policy scholar Chad Hart said it "probably won't" this
year. However, he said, Lugar and other members of the Senate and House
agriculture committees are worried about subsidies, which cost taxpayers about
$6 billion a year. And there's a growing sentiment that the payments must be
trimmed because of growing budget deficits, he said.
Lugar, a powerful member of the Senate agriculture committee, has long favored
insurance over subsidies. But he said he hasn't introduced a comprehensive bill
before now.
He and Lautenberg, who's not a member of the agriculture panel, "have put a
marker in the sand today that will probably move (the subsidy debate) forward in
the next few years," Hart said.
Powerful pro-subsidy agricultural interests are circumspect about the measure,
as lobbyists focus more on the proposal the Senate agriculture committee is
putting together.
Liz Friedlander, spokeswoman for the National Farmers Union, said the group
supports ending direct subsidies but seeks to study how the Lautenberg-Lugar
bill would eliminate them.
New Jersey Agriculture Secretary Charles Kuperus said even if the LautenbergLugar bill doesn't become law, Congress should adopt key principles it espouses,
such as ending subsidies, focusing more on conservation and encouraging
people to buy locally grown produce.
Most importantly, Kuperus said, Congress should retool farm policy to benefit
growers in New Jersey and other urbanized states, where farming isn't the
biggest economic driver.
"Our farms are just as important as farms in the Midwest. We farm closer to
where people live in most cases," he said. "Farm policy should be relevant to . . .
every farmer in the nation, every farmer in the Northeast region, every farmer in
New Jersey."
Raju Chebium at rchebium@gns.gannett.com