WASHINGTON, July 13, 2016 - Passing a farm bill has traditionally
required an urban and rural coalition, and the American Soybean Association
(ASA) doesn’t appear to be taking the need for that coalition lightly.
“It’s our intent to erect the largest tent we can possibly put up
and invite not only the commodity organizations, the trade associations, but
also all the other stakeholders in the farm bill… to be under that tent,” ASA
President Richard Wilkins said Tuesday at the association’s
Soy Issues Forum in Washington. ASA voted at its annual
policy meeting in March to add formal opposition to a split farm bill to its
policy book.
“As our patriots said at one time, we’re either going to hang
separate or we’re going to hang together,” he added. “It’s crucial at this
point in time – having experienced the challenges of getting the 2014 farm bill
across the finish line – to do it differently and to make a difference.”
Traditionally, the legislation has combined farm and nutrition
provisions as a way to attract votes from both rural and urban lawmakers for
agriculture programs. However, the urban and rural coalition went through a
rough patch in 2013, when the House approved a split farm bill before
conferencing with the Senate to bring the farm and nutrition titles back
together.
When the majority of spending in the bill started to be directed
toward nutrition programs – mostly the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program, or SNAP – calls came to separate the farm provisions from nutrition
assistance. But Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat and the ranking
member of the House Nutrition Subcommittee, says that splitting the bill would
kill the legislation.
“I don’t like to say anything with certainty, but if this
nutrition section gets separated from the farm bill, you’re never going to see
another farm bill,” he told ASA members.
Aside from preaching unity, ASA also hosted some other farm groups
to hear about their concerns and policy priorities for the upcoming farm bill.
“It’s not the Congress of 40 years ago; we can’t just bank on
getting a farm bill done,” John Hollay, vice president of government relations
for the National Milk Producers Federation, said at the meeting. “That last
farm bill was truly the signal that we better work together, otherwise,
(passing a bill is) not going to happen.”
Aside from preaching unity, ASA also hosted some other farm groups
to hear about their policy priorities for the upcoming farm bill.
Hollay said NMPF will be seeking changes to the Dairy Margin
Protection Program (MPP), saying it was the right program at the time, but “clearly
there are changes that need to be made to it” to better reflect current price
and market conditions.
He added that much like the cotton industry had to go to USDA for
help when the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) proved to be inadequate for
the cotton industry, the dairy industry may need to ask USDA for additional
assistance, although he didn’t elaborate as to what that assistance might be.
Reese Langley, vice president of government affairs with the National
Cotton Council, said his industry will be pushing to add cottonseed treated as
a covered commodity under certain farm bill programs. An effort to do so
administratively failed when Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack ruled that he
didn’t have the authority to do so. As a result, USDA has made funding
available for cost sharing in the cotton ginning process, but Langley said the
industry is concerned about the one-time nature of that funding and will seek a
more permanent solution.
Robert Guenther, United Fresh Produce Association’s senior vice president
of public policy, acknowledged that produce is a small part of the farm bill,
but said the organization will still spend time trying to be engaged on policy
discussions affecting their members, citing conservation programs and urban
farming as examples.
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