February 22, 2012
www.gfb.org
Vol. 30 No. 8
CHAMBLISS HOSTS FARM BILL FORUMS IN JESUP, TIFTON The farm bill Congress is about to write will look a lot different than previous ones, Sen. Saxby Chambliss told farmers attending farm bill forums he hosted March 16 in Jesup and Tifton. “I want you to understand that there will not be direct payments and there will not be countercyclical payments in this next bill,” Chambliss said. “If we’re going to work within the budget numbers we’ve got and be WTO compliant we have to go in this direction.” Chambliss, who expects the Senate Agriculture Committee to begin writing its farm bill in the next 30 days, said the best chance to pass a farm bill slipped by last November when the Super Committee failed to reach an agreement to reduce the federal deficit. As the Super Committee worked to cut $1.2 trillion in federal spending over 10 years, the House and Senate Ag committees recommended the elimination of direct payments and $23 billion in cuts for agriculture. Numerous ag groups, including the National Cotton Council (NCC), have proposed replacing direct payments with revenue programs tied to crop insurance. “STAX wouldn’t have been the cotton industry’s first choice if not for the federal budget and WTO issues,” NCC Economist Gary Adams said at the Jesup forum. “This program is trying to target a level of risk that past insurance programs haven’t targeted. This would cover low level losses from five to 30 percent, which previous insurance programs haven’t covered. STAX doesn’t address deep losses. Producers would need to buy additional crop insurance to do this.” Speaking on behalf of the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation, Bob Redding stressed that peanut growers need a choice between a countercyclical-type program and a revenue program. “These revenue programs assume you have a futures market in place for your commodity but peanuts don’t have one and economists say such a market wouldn’t work for peanuts,” Redding said. “We would recommend that the Rotterdam price be used for peanuts in place of a futures market price.” Redding said peanut growers would also be at a disadvantage under a revenue program because peanut farmers only have yield insurance available to them. He said consideration must also be given for yield differences between irrigated versus non-irrigated peanuts. “Agriculture is enjoying good prices now, but we will see low prices again and that’s why farmers need a safety net because we can’t afford to let other countries feed our country,” GFB President Zippy Duvall said during remarks at the Jesup meeting. The Senate Ag Committee held its final farm bill hearing in D.C. on March 14. NCC Chairman Chuck Coley of Dooly County testified in support of the cotton industry’s proposed STAX plan.