Goodlatte: Farm Bill Will Be Written in Congress, Not Geneva
House Agriculture Committee members say farm bill should be written for farmers, not trade negotiators.
Compiled by staff
Published: Mar 6, 2006
The next farm bill "will be written in the United States Congress not in Geneva," House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte told National Farmers Union members at their annual convention over the weekend.
Five members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture held a roundtable discussion at NFU's convention, agreeing that the 2007 Farm Bill should not be written based upon World Trade Organization negotiations.
Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., Ranking Member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., and Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan, reiterated the need to protect the farm safety net, and answered questions about the development of the 2007 Farm Bill. "Farming is as high-risk a business as any I know," Goodlatte says. "You should be able to count on your government for consistent policy."
Rep. Moran emphasized the necessity of drafting a farm bill written for farmers, not trade negotiators. "We need to write a farm bill and then require our negotiators to defend and support policy that we develop," Moran says.
The representatives also agreed that our current crop insurance program is insufficient to meet the needs of farmers. Peterson and Goodlatte say a key to developing a successful crop insurance program is farmer participation.
"Farmers need to step up to the plate to get the kind of insurance that covers the lion's share of crop damage," Goodlatte says. Peterson recently introduced a bill calling for permanent crop insurance for farmers with appropriate insurance polices, in the hopes that these provisions will make permanent crop insurance or disaster assistance more likely to pass in full Congress.
All five of the committee members say that the 2007 Farm Bill should contain provisions to support the production and use of farm-based fuels to revitalize rural communities and become an energy independent nation.
They also agreed to support farm conservation programs, but pointed out that the House Appropriations Committee often reallocates funding. "Our biggest problem has been with appropriators stealing our money," Peterson says. Goodlatte says that this process has been detrimental to the implementation of farm programs, last year taking more than $1 billion from agriculture spending. Legislators were divided on this issue.
Goodlatte says he is still planning on writing a new farm bill according to the committee's current schedule.
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