Tag Archives: Farm Bill 2012

Statement of Support for a Full and Fair Farm Bill


Posted by HFHP Coalition

On Monday, January 7, the Healthy Farms Healthy People Coalition joined 138 allied organizations from across the country in calling for a full and fair farm bill with the following statement, available here with the full list of signatories:

We, the undersigned, worked diligently and in good faith with the Senate and House Agriculture Committees to complete the 2012 Farm Bill in regular order. When that did not occur, the Committees jointly developed a plan for a one-year extension that, while flawed, had many merits. Like the Agriculture Committee leaders and members, we were shocked to learn that this agreement had been replaced by a biased extension that also disappointed the farmers, fishers, ranchers, Tribal Nations, farmworkers, and rural and urban communities we represent.

Direct payments were continued at the full 2008 levels – despite agreements to reduce them – while disaster response support for producers who have suffered up to three years of extreme drought and heat was eliminated.

In the 2002 and 2008 Farm Bills, Congress gradually adopted a set of programs to build the foundation for a new food system. This emerging food system, a small but growing portion of overall US Farm and Food Policy, has the potential to enhance equity for our nation’s diverse producers and farmworkers, secure a future in agriculture for new entry farmers and rural, urban and tribal communities, and provide fresh, local food for all consumers.

The Agriculture Committees’ December 31 agreement continued 2013 support for these critical programs, which ranged from Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers to Beginning Farmer Development, Rural Development, Specialty Crop, Organic and Urban Agriculture, and others, including a deep surprise cut in the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance) education program. All of this funding was zeroed out as the Farm Bill extension was attached to the fiscal cliff bill that has now become law.

We thank the Agriculture Committee leadership and members for their efforts to achieve balance. Beginning immediately, we pledge to work with the incoming Agriculture Committees to complete a full and fair Farm Bill that mitigates disasters, protects natural resources, provides equity and inclusion, constructs a new and economically viable future for agriculture and rural communities, and assures healthy food for all consumers.

Click here for the statement with full list of signatories.


Welcome to L.A.


Posted by HFHP Coalition
Cross-posted from Community Food and Justice Coalition
 
By Erin Middleton

CFJC spent the week before Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, along with the Healthy Farms Healthy Peoples Coalition Coordinator, and had a number of conversations with coalition partners about the food justice movement, particularly in the L.A. region.  A few overarching themes surfaced regarding some of the critical  “whats” and “hows” of attaining food system change that is fair, healthy and sustainable at every point of the food chain – from growing and harvesting to distribution and waste management.

There are many essential issues that need to be addressed in order to transform our food system. A few discussed in LA on this trip were the decriminalization of poverty (criminalization of poverty involves declaring certain acts that are more likely to be committed by poor or homeless people, such as begging and being in public places, a crime.)[1], immigration reform, and carving out healthy space for young eaters.

While in conversation with the Los Angeles Community Action Network and Hunger Action Los Angeles we discussed the widespread false U.S. notion that we should “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps”. But what would you do if you had little or no opportunities? As congress considers deep cuts to SNAP (formerly food stamps) in the 2012 Farm Bill, increasingly more people do not know where their next meal will come from. In California alone an estimated 3.8 million adults — particularly those in households with children as well as low-income Latinos — can’t afford to put adequate food on the table.[2]

Click here to keep reading.


2012 Farm Bill: Do Agriculture Leaders Have Enough Gas and Road Left to Finish the Job?


Posted by HFHP Coalition
By Gabrielle Serra

For anyone who follows what goes on (or what doesn’t) in Washington, it’s a well-known fact that significant pressure on members to act is a major ingredient for the success of any legislation, regardless of merits. Now, with the number of legislative days quickly waning for the 112th Congress, agriculture leaders are facing internal and external pressures that are driving their recent efforts to finalize a bill, which also gives more shape to the potential fates of a 2012 farm bill.

First, agriculture leaders understand the need to act. They have heard the increasingly concerned calls to action from many constituents in the food and agriculture system, and share those concerns. After the 2008 farm bill was allowed to expire on October 1, without current authority, agriculture programs are set to revert back to permanent law which includes a portfolio of outdated and impractical commodity pricing and subsidy programs. The fact that the farm bill was allowed to expire was never because any of the agriculture leaders thought this was in itself a good idea, but rather that it could lead to significant and necessary pressure on congress to act and achieve a bicameral compromise before any real consequences are realized. That time is quickly approaching. With the expired dairy provisions, consumers would start to see a spike in milk prices in the new year. This is important. While only a fraction of legislators include agriculture as a major priority for their legislative decisions, every legislator cares about the price for a gallon of milk just as they care about the prices their constituents are paying for a gallon of gas.

Whether pressure from within the agriculture community is enough to drive action is yet to be seen. Sharp disagreements remain. Most significantly, the House and Senate maintain opposing priorities for what a modern commodity title should include. The House put forward a Price Loss Coverage program that would trigger payments to farmers when market prices fall below target levels. The Senate rejected this proposal in favor of a program that would compensate growers for part of their revenue insurance deductibles. Recently, agriculture leaders, who historically enjoy one of the more consistently amicable bipartisan relationships in Congress, have each indicated their willingness to compromise to reach agreement on commodity programs.

As the week comes to a close, both sides have dug in their heels on what an acceptable compromise on the commodity title must look like. One could assume that such strong positioning is necessary to allow each side to staunchly defend their bargaining positions in order to claim major concessions from the other chamber as negotiations proceed. While this may all just be necessary gamesmanship and standard politicking, time is running short for leaders to engage in such a slow-dance for long.

What’s more is that the commodity title isn’t the only challenge to be addressed. Agriculture leaders need a spending target on the bill from the White House and House GOP leadership in order to resolve the wide differences on cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This is not likely to be concluded any time soon. The spending target for a new farm bill, including the scope and scale of SNAP cuts, is expected to be decided at the highest levels. Agriculture leaders can’t expect a spending target until the broader fiscal cliff negotiations develop further and even then, they might still be waiting.

To date, there hasn’t even been a commitment from the White House or House leadership that a farm bill would be included as part of any agreement. Further, it is yet impossible to know whether there will even be a fiscal cliff agreement before the end of this congress that a farm bill could be attached to.

No doubt, the farm bill is not a driving priority of the fiscal cliff negotiations, but the potential savings from agriculture will continue to be attractive to negotiators to include as part of any agreement. If a fiscal cliff agreement of some sort is reached, and a new farm bill is ready that could pass both chambers, it’s increasingly likely that the farm bill would get a ride. That said, there is concern that a fiscal cliff agreement could include reductions in spending to agriculture, such as the widely popular elimination of direct payments (worth $49 billion over the next decade), with or without a new farm bill.

The potential for the White House and House leadership to include spending cuts to agriculture as part of any fiscal cliff agreement, regardless of whether a new farm bill is ready, is the second driving pressure for agriculture leaders to reach an agreement on a package. Taking savings from farm programs without also advancing a comprehensive new farm bill would compromise agriculture leaders’ ability to use part of this savings to implement a new farm program infrastructure, regardless of whether it looks like the senate or house proposals. This outcome would be extremely unpopular among the agriculture community.

With such significant differences between the House and the Senate on what a new farm bill should include, and no guarantee that there’s a future for a new farm bill this year, it’s not expected that a compromise will be reached before the last possible moment.

So now, with three weeks and counting until the next congress is gaveled in, the questions on HFHP’s mind are whether agriculture leaders have enough leverage and enough time to find a path forward for a 2012 farm bill. And then, of course, we must ask ourselves whether that would be the farm bill that our food and agriculture system needs and that our HFHP community can support.


HFHP Calls on Congress to Enact a Comprehensive New Farm Bill


Posted by HFHP Coalition
By Gabrielle Serra

Last week, the Healthy Farms Healthy People Coalition sent House and Senate Leadership a letter calling on congress to enact a comprehensive new farm bill before the end of the year. HFHP calls for a modern farm bill that protects children and families from hunger, promotes human and environmental health and sustainable farm land stewardship, enables community-driven food projects, and supports rural economic development. While HFHP did not endorse either the House or Senate farm bills in their entirety, we took this opportunity to urge congress to take action before the end of this session to advance legislation that will meet the diverse needs of the nation’s food and agriculture system, including the critical role of the food and agriculture sector for promoting and protecting human health. Please take a look, and feel welcome to use this letter as a template for your own letter to congress. If you have any questions, send us an email at info@hfhpcoalition.org.


Farm Bill Still Waiting in the Wings


Posted by HFHP Coalition
By Gabrielle Serra

Congress returned this week from Thanksgiving to an ever-shrinking legislative calendar with the looming challenge of addressing a portfolio of tax increases and spending cuts that is simply, but aptly, referred to as ‘the fiscal cliff’ before the end of the year.

While the fiscal cliff is taking up all the attention and oxygen in the room for negotiations, the expired farm bill remains on the agenda, but the shape and fashion in which congress pursues any form of reauthorization is still yet to be determined.

Advancing a 2012 farm bill as stand-alone legislation has been a difficult option to envision since the House and Senate put forward competing proposals this past summer with stark differences in the commodity and nutrition titles. Now, the option of reauthorizing the farm bill as stand-alone legislation is running out of time and reflects the most remote of legislative possibilities.

Alternatively, House Speaker Boehner (R-OH) has suggested that the potential budgetary savings from a farm bill could attract leadership to include the legislation as part of an agreement to offset a postponement of the fiscal cliff. Any action, though, would not come easily. The two chambers would need to overcome entrenched regional and philosophical differences in order to reach a compromise on cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and farm subsidies.

If congress doesn’t, or can’t, advance a 2012 farm bill, then an extension of the 2008 farm bill (P.L 110-246), which expired on September 30, is the next most likely possibility. This option presents unique challenges as well. The greatest controversies of an extension include the length of the extension and a list of expiring programs important to rural development, diversification, and conservation.

Fortunately, congress has an incentive to act in some fashion. If congress fails to reauthorize the farm bill before the end of the year, then on January 1, federal programs will automatically revert back to an outdated commodity price support system from the 1940’s that everyone can agree is an avoidable and undesirable outcome.


Expiring Provisions in the Farm Bill


Posted by HFHP Coalition
By Gabrielle Serra

It has become clear that Congress will allow the 2008 Farm Bill to expire on September 30. The farm bill will remain stalled in the House of Representatives while Congress is in recess through the November election.

With the Senate passing a bipartisan bill back in June, responsibility for the stalemate falls at the feet of House leadership who has struggled to find a political sweet spot to move either a temporary extension of current law or the draft bill reported out of the Agriculture Committee. House leadership has faced political challenges centered on intra- and inter-party differences over funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The House Republicans are divided over whether the Agriculture Committee-passed bill that proposes $16 billion in cuts to SNAP over the next ten years is adequate or not enough. Meanwhile, House Democrats generally consider the proposed SNAP cuts to be too severe. The two caucuses have remained just as divided over the implications of extending current legislation.

Looking ahead, with the expected expiration of current law on September 30, Congress has until the end of the calendar year to take action before serious consequences to the farm safety net would be triggered. Most major programs in the current law, such as the nutrition programs and crop insurance, will continue with the 6-month Continuing Resolution (H.J Res 117) that is currently making its way through Congress. Further, most commodity programs are dictated by the crop cycle rather than the fiscal calendar providing Congress with a cushion of varying lengths before the agriculture production community begins to feel effects. That being said, allowing the current farm bill to expire is not without any consequences.

The most obvious concern is for the 37 programs in the current farm bill that do not have baseline funding or authorization for funding beyond FY 2012. This means that when the current federal fiscal year comes to a close on September 30 that even if Congress wanted to, they could not appropriate funds to these programs. Further, if policymakers intend to continue these programs in their current or revised form, they will need to identify offsets to pay for them.  The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the cost of continuing these programs for an additional five years would cost between $9 billion to $14 billion.

The 37 expiring provisions affect 12 of the 15 titles in the 2008 Farm Bill. Two of the provisions – the agriculture disaster assistance program and the Wetlands Reserve Program account for approximately 80 percent of the projected costs of reauthorization. Continuation or revision of agriculture disaster assistance, which both the Senate and House farm bills would address, has been a major concern in light of the summer’s drought. The impact on conservation programs has also stirred significant concern.

There are numerous other programs that would be affected if Congress allows either the current farm bill to expire, or even if they enacted a short-term extension because they have no authorization for funding after September 30. Healthy Farms Healthy People is particularly concerned about the impact that this would have on a few of these programs specifically because of our focus on improving affordable access to fruits and vegetables, local and regional food systems, and equity. These programs include (but are not exclusive to) the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Outreach and Assistance to Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers, Farmers Market Promotion Program, Specialty Crop Research, Rural Micro-entrepreneur Assistance Program, and Value-Added Producer Grants.

For more information on each of the 37 programs without baseline after September 30, we encourage you to refer to the recent report prepared by the Congressional Research Service, “Expiring Farm Bill Programs Without a Budget Baseline.” The report can be found here and describes the cost of action to reauthorize the expiring programs.

Congress will return in November with a list of must-pass legislation to address, which now must also include the farm bill. It is impossible to predict the path forward for the 2012 farm bill without knowing how the political landscape will look after the election. It’s clear that the House and Senate of this Congress will continue to have significant differences in commodity title policy and SNAP funding when they return in November. With the election behind them, though, there will certainly be some form of action before the end of this Congress to at least bypass the threat of reverting back to 1940’s farm policy.

Healthy Farms Healthy People will continue to monitor and navigate the various scenarios, and we will keep you posted here.


Farm Bill Update: Extension Pulled


Posted by HFHP Coalition
By Gabrielle Serra

In an earlier post, we noted that the House Rules Committee was scheduled to meet this evening to consider the path forward for a farm bill extension and disaster assistance package that would address the stress on farmers, ranchers, and specialty crop producers from the recent drought. Just prior to convening the Committee meeting, however, House Republican leaders determined that they did not have the votes to pass this controversial package on the floor.  It’s clear that the diverse array of farm, rural, and conservation stakeholders, including many of you in the Healthy Farms, Healthy People community, who demonstrated significant concern (or even outright opposition) to this extension package, made a significant impact on ensuring the House leadership go back to the drawing board. At this time, the House will not pursue a farm bill extension and will instead put forward a standalone disaster assistance package that they intend to advance under suspension of the rules on Thursday.  The disaster assistance package, including what offsets are used to pay for it, are still pending. Meanwhile, the farm bill, set to expire on September 30, will still need to be dealt with in some manner when members return from August district and state work periods.

Stay tuned for more details on the disaster package, offsets, and the road ahead.


Legislative Update: House Farm Bill Extension


Posted by HFHP Coalition
By Gabrielle Serra

House leadership released legislative text on the House Rules Committee website of a one year farm bill extension (through FY 2013) with a disaster assistance package on Friday July 27. The legislative text is available here.

The House Rules Committee will meet today, Tuesday July 31 at 5pm EDT; the agenda for the meeting can be found here.

House leadership is trying to secure enough votes to put this package up for a vote this week before members break for the August district work period later this week.  As of this afternoon, though, many farm, conservation, and rural development groups have come out against a one-year extension, and most nutrition groups are neutral on the legislative process. The path forward remains uncertain, but it’s increasingly complicated to foresee a scenario that House leadership will have enough votes to advance this package.

There are many reasons why groups and sectors are not supportive of a one-year extension.  For example, some are supportive of passing a one-year extension only if House leadership guarantees that it’s a path towards a conference agreement to finish a five-year farm bill this year. At the same time, others reject this path as side-stepping due process and excluding the full House from the opportunity to debate the farm bill on the floor.  Further, many rural and conservation groups reject this package as it’s not a clean one-year extension that stunts recent gains for rural farm communities and disadvantaged farmers, while offsetting the cost with cuts to conservation programs and meaningless out-year cuts to the widely unpopular direct payments, which would be unchanged for the length of the extension.

House leadership put forward this package last week after the Speaker held firm in his position that there is no path forward for a farm bill this Congress because of deep partisan divisions, as well as intra-party divisions, which are largely led by conservatives demanding deeper cuts to nutrition and democrats rejecting the proposed cuts as already too deep to support. The House alternative, however, that marries a one-year extension with disaster assistance, would all but guarantee that no more action will be taken on the farm bill this Congress. While many organizations have indicated that they would prefer a five-year farm bill before the end of this Congress, House leadership has made no commitment to find the votes for a comprehensive bill, and the House extension alternative is appearing to not be immune to this struggle as well.

The House is scrambling to demonstrate action has been taken to provide relief to farmers and ranchers suffering from the summer’s drought before members head back to their districts. If House leadership is unable to leverage the pressure to address the drought as a means for also advancing a farm bill solution prior to the programs expiring the end of the fiscal year, the House may opt to advance some form of disaster assistance as stand-alone legislation.

Check back for updates.


Farm Bill Extension Language Released


Posted by HFHP Coalition
By Gabrielle Serra

House leadership quietly released legislative text on the House Rules Committee website this afternoon of a one year farm bill extension (through FY 2013) with a disaster assistance package.

The legislative text is available here.

The bill largely extends the 2008 farm bill through FY 2013 with some modifications and exclusions, and provides disaster assistance to livestock producers, orchard owners and others who are adversely affected by drought, freeze, and wildfire, retroactive for 2012 and through 2013. Specifically, the disaster assistance package reauthorizes Livestock Indemnity Payments (LIP), Livestock Forage Disaster Programs (LFP), Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish (ELAP), and the Tree Assistance Program (TAP).

The cost of the extension package and disaster assistance comes from trimming direct farm payments, conservation, and SNAP employment and training funding. Preliminary estimates (CBO score not yet available) from Lucas’ committee indicate that the new disaster spending will cost $621 million over 10 years, and that this legislation has a net savings of about $400 million above the necessary offset to cover costs.

The savings comes from the following cuts:

  • Direct payments, which cost about $5 billion annually, would be trimmed by reducing the percentage paid on a producer’s “base acres” from 85 percent of a producer’s base acres to 84.5 percent.
  • In addition to reducing direct payments, the proposal would cap the Conservation Stewardship Program at 11 million acres, Environmental Quality Incentives Program at $1.4 billion, the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program is capped at $150 million, and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program is capped at $45 million.
  • It would also trim $11 million (or 13 percent) from SNAP employment and training funding.

The House Rules Committee will meet Tuesday at 5pm – the agenda for the meeting can be found here. It’s uncertain what the structure of the rule will be – that’s been subject to debate – whether amendments will be allowed, and if so, will they be limited.

House leadership intends to put this package up for a vote next week before members break for the August district work period, and the vote will likely be scheduled for Wednesday. As of this update, the house floor schedule for next week has not been released yet.

Chairman Lucas would prefer to pass a comprehensive farm bill this Congress, but House leadership continues to not see a path forward for clearing this bill on the floor. Ranking member Peterson, however, has yet to officially endorse this extension package and will only support its path forward if this legislation is a means toward conferencing a comprehensive bill. It is not clear if House leadership will need Peterson’s support to pass this bill. The Senate is expected to call for a conference if the House passes this package. It remains to be seen, however, whether the House would be interested in or able to pass a conference report and the chances seem less likely by the day.  One thing is for sure, though, with programs set to expire on September 30, Congress needs to take action of some kind, and if they choose to enact a one-year extension, the process will have to start from the beginning again in the next Congress.


2012 Farm Bill Clears House Hurdle


Posted by HFHP Coalition

Cross-posted from Fair Food Network

By Kate Fitzgerald

In the early hours of July 12, the House Agriculture Committee passed the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (H.R. 6083 AKA the Farm Bill) on a bipartisan vote of 35-11. The bill cuts total spending by $35 billion over ten years, with $16 billion of the cut coming from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps.  One of the few bright spots in the bill is a provision for an incentive program inviting SNAP participants to purchase more locally-grown fruits and vegetables.

Advocates for sustainable local food systems have an interest in a Farm Bill passing soon because many of the USDA programs that support this work will expire on September 30, the end of both the 2012 fiscal year and the current farm legislation. USDA has made great strides in the last four years: farmers’ markets are growing; new markets that accept SNAP and WIC benefits are being established; food hubs are making it easier for farmers to sell to schools, hospitals and regional grocery chains; hoop houses are being constructed to extend farmers’ seasons in rural communities and on urban city blocks; and beginning farmers are getting the support they need to be successful. (USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food COMPASS is an excellent tool to learn about funding opportunities at USDA and connect with organizations and farmers doing interesting work around the country.)  A new Farm Bill can provide the statutory support for USDA to continue these programs.

Click here to read the full article.