WASHINGTON, D.C. — Late Wednesday afternoon, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., made an unexpected and unscheduled appearance at an Ohio Farm Bureau Forum to announce breaking news. Farm Bureau members were in Washington for their annual County Presidents Trip.
The forum has been hosted annually by Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, for 18 years. Ohio 18th District Rep. Zack Space, D-New Philadelphia, was speaking when Peterson arrived.
The 2007 Farm Bill has been logjammed in funding disputes between the House and Senate, as well as with policy disputes between the legislative bodies and the White House. Word circulating among OFB members was that the stalemate was likely to result in either the existing farm bill being extended indefinitely, or, more drastically, being allowed to expire, sending everything to the default levels set years ago without pricing supports.
“We’re still trying to write a bill with money we don’t have,” Peterson said, referring to the fact that Ag Committee members are trying to account for funds which are not being made available without conditions attached by other interests in Congress. But, Peterson said Wednesday afternoon’s negotiations showed enough promise that Congress voted to extend the old farm bill for 30 days in order to attempt to hammer out a final verion of the new bill. Peterson added that his intention was to either settle a new farm bill or write a brand new, stripped-down version of the bill which keeps all funding at the current baselines.
“We just told the Senate that if we don’t get a decision by Friday morning about where the money is coming from, we will write a new baseline farm bill,” Peterson said.
This move would, in effect, extend the old farm bill with a few corrections, including implementing a disaster program plan, although it would not include funding for it. Peterson said a negotiated bill would be hammered out by April 18, or else everything would default to permanent law. This would remove the subsidies, which are designed to even out market pricing. Unrestricted market pricing could send food prices sky high.
Asked for a comment after the forum, Space said Peterson was forcing a showdown, to provoke stallers into supporting the 2007 Farm Bill instead of a stripped-down bill or a complete abandonment of farm bill programs.
“He basically threw a grenade onto the Senate floor,” Space said. “He’s got to resort to some kind of political pressure to stimulate some movement. I think he’s doing the right thing.”
Two hours earlier, the forum had begun with Boehner expressing doubt that any compromise could be reached anytime soon. He was especially concerned because he sees the upcoming crop season as a potentially treacherous one, with high demand for grain due to alternative energy products and growing consumption from developing countries potentially running head-on into record low grain supplies.
“We’d better hope we don’t get a drought this summer,” Boehner said.
Rep. Bob Latta (R- Bowling Green) spoke next, pointing out that it was critical to draw the public’s attention to farming, now that farmers make up only 0.8 percent of the Ohio population, and only 1.5 percent nationwide. He also argued against the standing estate tax, or “death tax” as President George Bush calls it, saying that lawmakers should strike it down so that family farms are not in danger of being lost from generation to generation. The Farm Bureau presidents applauded enthusiastically upon hearing his statement.
Latta closed his comments saying that Ohio can be a leader in developing new alternative energies, and that he would like to see the nation commit to being energy independent within the next 10 years.
Rep. Charlie Wilson (D- St. Clairsville), who serves on the Financial Services Committee, said agriculture is Ohio’s most important industry, contributing $90 billion to the economy annually. He said it will be important to try to find a balance in the future on trade agreements to preserve the markets of agricultural exports, while halting and reversing the drain of industrial jobs from the state. When askedwhat can be done to educate the public more about farming, Wilson suggested directing additional funding to programs such as 4-H; this will educate the young people of today, who will be tomorrow’s voters.
Fourth District Republican Jim Jordan talked about trying to freeze government spending at current levels instead of letting budgets continue to balloon past the $3 trillion level at which it currently stands. He pointed out that Social Security and Medicare need to be fixed within the next five or 10 years, or the costs of those programs will skyrocket from 18.3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product’s taxes to 40 percent by 2040. He suggested that a new Grace Commission, like the one President Ronald Reagan formed in the 1980s, be formed to go through pieces of legislation such as the 2007 Farm Bill to determine which parts are obsolete holdovers from the past which waste money. He said the current generation in power doesn’t want to be the first American generation to give the next one a weaker economy and outlook than what they inherited themselves.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D- Mansfield) stopped by to speak to the forum. The first senator from Ohio to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee in 40 years, Brown talked about the growth of local food programs, and hailed Kenyon College’s efforts to use local food in Knox County as a model which other institutions and organizations in the state should follow.
Dan Cowdrey, president of the Highland County Farmers Bureau, asked Brown about liability issues for institutional buyers purchasing directly from farmers. Brown said this would always be an issue, but he compared it to farmers selling directly at farmers markets.
Brown met some resistance from the forum members when he said he did not support striking down the estate tax. He suggested, instead, fixing the law so that it raised the taxation bracket and allowed for a doubling of the allowed exemption level for a husband and wife.
Several members of the forum expressed anger at the Humane Society of the United States, and suggested it was dictating to farmers how to raise animals. Brown said the organization didn’t have any such power with the U.S. Congress. When members countered that the animal rights activists were exerting their power through influencing children, Brown advised Farm Bureau members to do the same and make sure their points of view are being represented.
Space then spoke, reviewing some of his activities with promoting the development of rural broadband service in southeastern Ohio in order to develop the business operations of the area. He also talked about how he and other ag committee members were going to get closely involved with the Clean Water Restoration Act, to make sure it didn’t lead to having government inspectors invading every farm field to measure pollution in every puddle. He said the four most important areas for Ohio’s changing economy are alternative energy, broadband development, health care and agriculture.
News reporter Mark Jordan is attending the Ohio Farm Bureau’s forum. He will write several articles from Washington, D.C., over the next several days.
