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The current farm bill expires March 15 and now it looks like Congress will have to extend it until mid-April before anything is finalized. Over the weekend negotiations continued between the White House and House leaders. The White House made some lofty requests in what House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson sees as "dictating" what would be in the farm bill.
The Administration released a 3-page position paper outlining the terms to which it could agree to spend up to $10 billion more than budgeted for the 10 year life of the farm bill. Key among the 10 demands is one that would end farm program eligibility for participants who pay income tax on an adjusted gross income (AGI) of more than $500,000 annually. The Administration originally sought a hard cap of $200,000 AGI.
Nine other reforms were also listed as "contingent" to the Administration's agreement to a farm bill spending level of $10 billion over the current baseline. The Administration's position has been backed up for months by a veto threat. The proposed spending, over the lifetime of the bill, is in addition to the estimated $570 billion already slated for food stamps, conservations, energy, farm programs, and rural development, which are all part of the massive bill.
Reforms sought by the Administration include:
The Administration did not propose slashing direct payments, which is one idea the National Corn Growers Association said they'd be willing to explore in order to have a revenue assurance option included in a final bill.
Policy is one of the most important issues facing farmers today, but often the most difficult to digest. Jacqui Fatka has a passion to decode the often difficult world of agricultural policy into terms understandable for today's ag players.
Fatka joined the Farm Progress team as E-Content Editor in August 2003 after graduating from Iowa State University. Prior to full-time employment with Farm Progress, she interned at Wallaces Farmer magazine, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley's press office and the Iowa Pork Producers Association and freelanced for National Hog Farmer. She also worked as a public relations consultant with Iowa Industries for the Future, an effort to bring together major players in the biorenewables industry.
Currently Fatka is a staff editor at a sister publication, Feedstuffs. For Farm Futures she regularly tells the story of ongoing agricultural policy changes. Her byline can also be found on management profiles.
Fatka grew up on a grain and livestock farm near Atlantic, Iowa. She currently lives in central Ohio with her husband Eric.
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