Senate Set to Begin Mark-Up on 2007 Farm Bill

News Date October 24, 2007

Senate Set to Begin Mark-Up on 2007 Farm Bill

The Senate Agriculture Committee plans to begin marking up its version of the 2007 Farm Bill on October 24 . Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) released title-by-title description of his legislative proposals, which are posted on the panel’s website at: http://agriculture.senate.gov.

Harkin and committee members have been negotiating for several weeks on key issues and only recently reached an agreement on the amount of money to be spent on each title of the bill. The Senate Finance Committee separately approved a package that provides additional funding for certain Farm Bill programs. The Finance Committee package is expected to be incorporated into the Farm Bill at some point during the mark-up by the Agriculture Committee. It would create a permanent program for disaster assistance, allow farmers who idle land in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to get tax credits instead of government payments and establishes bond programs for energy and rural development programs.

Chairman Harkin’s Farm Bill proposal would continue the current combination of direct
payments that are made to crop farmers whether prices are high or low, marketing loans and countercyclical payments when prices are low. It also includes an optional "average crop revenue" rogram under which crop farmers would give up the traditional program in favor of a $15 per acre guaranteed annual payment and higher payments when their incomes fall. Harkin has also proposed more funding for the food stamp program, conservation programs and specialty crops. Included among the specialty crops provisions is the specialty crops block grant administered through state departments of agriculture and funded at $365 million in mandatory funds. (Contact: Charlie Ingram or Jennifer Yezak)