June 23 , 2008 - After two long years of often contentious debates in the House and Senate and after much verbal jousting back and forth between the President and Congress, all 15 titles of the 2008 Farm Bill are now law. For you poly-wonks out there, the The Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 is referenced as H.R. 6124. And as predicted, the re-sent bill was vetoed by the President and his veto was overridden by Congress. Title III, the Trade Title, was officially law on June 18 while the other 14 titles became law on May 22. This is the Farm Bill that we will now be living with for the next five to seven years. There is much to be disappointed about in this bill -- it falls far short on a number of important fronts like commodity payment reform -- but a number of important organic and sustainable ag programs, conservations programs and beginning farmer and rancher programs got significantly more funding than in past years. The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition with the support of its many member organizations, will be working with the USDA and Congress in the coming months to assure these winner programs are funded and implemented per the terms of the bill. Stay tuned.
May 27, 2008 - The Farm Bill drama just keeps on keeping on. President Bush vetoed the Bill and the House and Senate voted to override the veto as predicted. But low and behold, after the Bill was enacted into law, it was missing Title III, the Trade Title. Apparently it had inadvertently been left out of the final version of the Bill when it was sent to the President’s desk. The House and Senate agreed to override the veto on the Bill, anyway, the House on the full version of the Bill, the Senate on the partial version. As 14 of the 15 titles are now law, the issue becomes, how to get Title III into law. One possible solution would be to resend the entire Farm Bill including Title III back to the President where he will veto it, again, and then Congress will override the veto, again. Another solution would be for the Senate to vote on the remaining title only. We’ll have to wait on all that until after Congress comes back in June from Memorial Day recess.
Though there is little commodity payment reform in the Bill, the good news is that it does contain significant provisions for organics, in particular, $78 million in mandatory funding for Organic Research and Extension, five times more than was allocated in the 2002 Bill. Go here for the Organic Farming Research Foundation's Summary of Organic Provisions in the 2008 Farm Bill.
But wait, there's more! With appropriations and implementation as next steps, there is still much to be decided in the coming months. Don't put your Farm Bill thinking caps away yet. Your Senators and Representatives will still need to hear from you so stay tuned.
Also, you can go to the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s website for additional details or check out the Organic Farming Research Foundation's Farm Bill Press Release.
May 19, 2008 - The Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (the official name for the 2008 Farm Bill) has finally been voted on and approved by an overwhelming margin in both the House and Senate. The Bill will make it to the President's desk sometime this week and then he has 10 days to sign or veto it. He will likely veto it just as he has threatened to do over and over. Once it is vetoed, it will then go back to the House and Senate where there is already a greater than 2/3 margin to override the veto. Since Congress probably won't get the Bill back before the Memorial Day recess which extends to the first week of June, the Bill will be signed into law then. An interesting historical factoid: According to the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's web site, this is only the third time in the history of the Farm Bill that it's been late by a year. And each of those Bills were signed into law by one month later than that of the preceding Bill - April 1996, May 2002, June 2008. Check out SAC's website for a good vote breakdown by both bodies of Congress.
May 12, 2008 - The House and Senate ag conference committees came up with a unified Farm Bill last week. Presumably, the full House and Senate will vote on it this week and are expected to pass it. Then the President will have a wack at it, and once again, he has expressed his displeasure with the lack of any real Title I commodity payment reform. He is talking veto, and if he does, then Congress will have a chance to override the veto. It is questionable at this point that there will be the 2/3 votes needed to override the veto. The Bill as it stands has made good strides for the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Value Added Producer Grants, support for local and regional food systems, and Farmers and Ranchers Transition to Organic Production Initiatives. Though the Bill is a disappointment in its lack of commodity payment reform, it is offering real progress on many other fronts and a vote for its passage should be supported. Visit the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition web site for more details and for a list of your Senators and Representatives to contact to push hard for passage of this Bill.
May 5, 2008 - The Farm Bill is moving along. After a series of marathon sessions last week, the House and Senate conference committees are within nine issues of finalizing the Bill. Conferees will probably come to agreement this week on the remaining terms of the Bill in which case it will then go for a vote to the full House and Senate, and then to the President. We may still be a couple of weeks away from that, but as progress is being made, Bush is showing more inclination that he will sign the Bill. Visit the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition web site for details on the progress and remaining issues of the Bill.
April 28, 2008 - There finally appeared to be some real progress in the Farm Bill negotiations last week as Congress approved and the President signed another Farm Bill extension. House and Senate conferees are finally coming to agreement on tax issues, funding levels and the division of funding among Farm Bill titles. There is still more to hash out, in particular, the issue of cuts in commodity payments. And though President Bush has consistently threatened to veto the bill based on earlier negotiations, there are now rumors circulating that the White House just may sign the finished bill. Much has yet to happen, and as Yogi Bera said, "it ain't over till it's over."
If you would like good, up-to-the minute information about the Farm Bill negotiations, we recommend you check out the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition web site.
April 21, 2008 - Another extension of the 2002 Farm Bill was passed through April 25. Negotiations between the Senate and House conferees has not been promising with the Senate and House versions of the bill still quite a ways apart on overall funding levels. In spite of all that, offers and counter offers abound and demonstrate at least some progress. One monkey wrench in the negotiation works is that Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) has said he intends to object to any further one or two week extensions of the current Bill. If he makes good on his intentions and his objection passes, the U.S. will be looking at reverting back to the terms of the 1949 Farm Bill Act. It's anybody's guess as to what that would mean. For more information and details about specific Farm Bill titles, go to the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition web site.
March 17, 2008 - Conference committee members failed to finalize funding levels for each title of the farm bill so passed an extension of the bill until April 18. Congress is now on spring recess but will be back next week to continue working on funding levels and hopefully come up with a consolidated farm bill to send to President Bush. The Senate version of the bill provides for $5 billion in new five-year funding for the Conservation Title.
This funding is much needed but in danger of not making the cut in the final bill. There is still time to contact your Senate conferees and House Ag committee members to let them know that this $5 billion in conservation funding needs to remain. For more details on important action alerts and the farm bill, go to the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's web site.
February 27, 2008 - Senate conference committee members and House Ag Committee members continue to meet to draft a unified farm bill that can be sent to the President. They have until March 15, the farm bill extension deadline, to hash out a bill for Presidential approval. In the event no new farm bill can be agreed upon and approved by that time, what's likely is that the U.S. will extend the terms of the 2002 bill.
If you have Senators and Representatives from your state who are serving on the conference committees (House still to appoint members), It is still imperative that you contact them and urge them to support sustainable agriculture priorities in the farm bill. That includes voicing support for beginning farmer and rancher initiatives, value-added production, the conservation security program, organic provisions, rural development policies, renewable energy, and payment limitations and commodity reform. For a list of all Senate conference committee members and House Ag committee members likely to serve on the House conference committee, see the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition website.
ALSO: The deadline for voicing opposition to the USDA's proposed "Naturally Raised" label for meat has been extended to March 3rd. For details on how you can submit your comments, see the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition web site under "Act Now!"
Conference Committee Members to be Named Soon - January 21, 2008
Senate and House conference committee members will be named soon to debate and come up with a consolidated Farm Bill to send to the President. In the meantime, there are a number of key organic and sustainable farming initiatives hanging in the balance that need funding. You're voice is needed to express support for funding for beginning farmers and ranchers, the Conservation Security Program, value-added organics, and rural micro-enterprise, all programs with little to no guarantee of funding in either the House or Senate versions of the Bill.
For more details and a list of Senators and Representatives to contact, go to the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (SAC) website.
Also, there is only one week left to submit comments opposing the USDA's proposed "Naturally-Raised" meat label. Designed to cloud the issue and confuse consumers, this proposal will undermine the integrity of legitimate organic and sustainable livestock producers. The deadline to be heard is January 28. Once again, go to the SAC website for more information.
2002 Farm Bill Provisions Extended - December 26, 2007
As the House and Senate failed to name their farm bill conferees prior to leaving on winter break, that means that the earliest they will be named is mid or late January. There will be no House/Senate consolidated farm bill to send to the President by the end of the year. However, in the $555 billion omnibus spending bill for 2008 that the President signed, there is language to extend the provisions of the 2002 Farm Bill through March 15, 2008, the start date of Easter recess. Congress is expected to send the President a new farm bill before then.
See how your senator voted on Dorgan-Grassley and other key provisions on the farm bill.
For more detailed information about the Farm Bill in all its Byzantine beauty, go to the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's web site.
Senate Farm Bill Approved 79-14 - December 17, 2007
The U.S. Senate version of the Farm Bill was passed by a vote of 79-14. It includes significant funding for key organic priorities, land conservation initiatives and fairness-in-competition livestock programs but was a disappointment in the defeat of the Dorgan-Grassley payment limit amendment. "The bill further increases price supports and continues to send farm subsidies to people who are among the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans," said Acting U.S. Ag Secretary, Chuck Conner.
The bill is noteworthy in its support for organics. It includes $80 million for the Organic Farming Research and Extension Initiative, $22 million in new money for certification cost-share for organic farmers, $5 million for organic data collection, and also adds to the Soil and Water Conservation Protection Loans a priority for those converting to organic farming practices, and adds conversion to organic production as an eligible loan purpose. Also included is a sense of the Senate resolution that funding for organic agriculture should align with organic agriculture's share of the market, currently about 3%.
The House and Senate versions of the bill must now be reconciled and then approved by a conference committee before the final version of the bill goes to the President's desl for signature or veto. President Bush has said that he will veto the bill unless the House and Senate can come up with provisions that will offer real subsidy reform.
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