Senate Approves Ag Appropriations; Glickman Sees Delays

October 14, 1999

The Senate cleared the agricultural appropriations bill for the President's signature Wednesday on a 74-26 vote. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman said "some of these payments" included in the $8.7 billion farm aid package may not get to farmers "as quickly as I would like" because of changes in programs "Congress insisted on making."

While not specifying what payments he meant, Glickman said Congress "insisted on making some of these programs unnecessarily complicated. That means we will not be able to get some of these payments out as quickly as I would like."

Glickman expressed concern, also reflected by members of Congress, that not enough money has been allocated for disaster aid. It is expected that more money will be sought to help farmers whose crops suffered from drought or floods earlier this year.

The Secretary again criticized the way the payments will be made. "I believe strongly that the income loss payments and payment mechanism should be based on this year's production," he said, "not a formula reflecting production a decade ago...the bill will allow some producers to receive multiple payments for different crops on the same acreage or on crops they are no longer planting."

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) provided the Senate with examples during debate on the appropriations bill. If half a farmer's 500-acre corn base was planted to corn and half to soybeans, that farmer will get an additional payment of $17,901 for the corn and $2,040 for the soybean payments. Another farmer with 500 acres, 250 of which is corn base, receives $8,950 more in payments on the corn base and $2,040 in soybean payments. A farmer with no corn base and 500 acres, with half in soybeans, and half in corn, simply gets a $2,040 soybean payment.

Mandatory price reporting of livestock, another provision in the bill, pleased Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE), as did additional crop insurance subsidies for next year. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN) said hog and cattle producers nationwide "have shared with me their desire to have increased price transparency for livestock sales."

The mandatory price reporting section requires hog processing plants that slaughter an average of 100,000 hogs or more annually to submit purchases on a daily basis to USDA. Cattle plants that slaughter 125,000 head or more a year also would have to submit daily purchases to USDA.

Several senators want Congress to examine farm policy next year. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) has promised to do just that, and the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Charles Stenholm (D-TX) has a bill ready that mandates supplemental income payments to farmers when prices paid decline below prices received for farm products.