The 2007 Farm Bill Is Now a Work in Progress

Congress and USDA are starting work on the 2007 Farm Bill, which will shape U.S. agriculture policy and affect programs used by the U.S. cattle industry. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns has been holding Farm Bill listening forums across the country to get input from America’s ranchers and farmers on what issues need to be addressed in the next bill.

Unlike previous Farm Bill considerations, President Bush has made it clear that he intends to be actively engaged in the process and that he will have his own proposal to submit to Congress.

The Farm Bill will set U.S. agriculture policy for several years. The current bill replaced the 1996 Freedom to Farm bill. These bills cover all aspects of U.S. agriculture including farm subsidies, conservation and trade. Many of the Farm Bill provisions and programs affect U.S. cattlemen, especially those focused on conservation and trade. One provision of the 2002 Farm Bill is country-of-origin labeling. As evidenced by the debate and controversy surrounding this issue, the Farm Bill will play a major role in the success of U.S. beef producers.

Key Issues

Two topics that have already dominated Farm Bill discussions are farm subsidies and conservation. During the Group of Eight leading industrial nations summit in Scotland in July, President Bush said that the United States and European Union should work to eliminate agricultural subsidies. Subsidies have long been a part of farm policy, but there was an effort with the 1996 Farm Bill to reduce producers’ dependence on government support payments. The 2002 Farm Bill, however, renewed their strength and this year alone the USDA will hand out nearly $24 billion in subsidy payments to farmers.

Due to tight federal budgets, Secretary Johanns has said that there just won’t be enough money to continue the current system. President Bush wants to have the subsidy issue settled by 2010 so that the Doha round of World Trade Organization talks can move forward. This means the 2007 Farm Bill must address farm subsidies.

Conservation is expected to play a larger part in 2007 farm policy. Programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program support cattle producers efforts to be good stewards of the land. With environmental pressures coming from many different fronts, including the  Environmental Protection Agency, urban development and environmental groups, conservation will undoubtedly be a significant part of the 2007 Farm Bill.

Congress is expected to begin its own work on the bill later this year or early in 2006. Both congressional and USDA actions moving forward will reveal more about the priorities for the bill, the major challenges facing existing agricultural programs and what compromises will be made to move the bill forward.

USDA held Farm Bill listening session around the country this summer.  It is posting details from the forums at www.usda.gov/farmbill.

Send Comments

USDA has said that public input is essential to developing recommendations for the next Farm Bill. Cattlemen are encouraged to participate in the process since the more comments USDA has from ranchers, the more likely the policy will reflects our industry’s needs. Comments to USDA are due by Dec. 30, 2005, and USDA is requesting feedback on six specific questions:

1.   How should farm policy be designed to maximize U.S. competitiveness and our country’s ability to effectively compete in global markets?  2.  How should farm policy address any unintended consequences and ensure that such consequences do not discourage new farmers and the next generation of farmers from entering production agriculture?

3.   How should farm policy be designed to effectively and fairly distribute assistance to producers?

4.   How can farm policy best achieve conservation and environmental goals?

5.   How can federal rural and farm programs provide effective assistance in rural areas?

6.   How should agricultural product development, marketing and research-related issues be addressed in the next Farm Bill?