Farm Bill Conferees Appear to Be Moving Toward Conclusion

April 16, 2002

Mandatory country-of-origin labeling and the voiding of arbitration provisions in contracts -- two provisions included in the Senate-passed Farm Bill's "Miscellaneous Title" -- were debated between House and Senate conferees late last week without any action taken. And there were reports of a possible compromise on loan rates - next to payment limits and packer ownership of livestock considered the most contentious issue dividing House and Senate members of the farm bill conference committee.

The American Meat Institute said in action similar to a debate held in the House Agriculture Committee's farm bill mark-up, a bipartisan group of House conferees noted inherent problems and inconsistencies with implementing country-of-origin labeling offered by Senate conferees Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Kent Conrad (D-ND).

Reps. Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Cal Dooley (D-CA) noted the difficulties of tracking the movement of livestock and fish, particularly with the Senate's prohibition of an animal identification system. While both Harkin and Conrad claimed that consumers deserved country-of-origin labeling when purchasing meat and produce, Harkin acknowledged that provisions had been negotiated to exclude restaurants and food establishments from the program, as well as to prohibit an audit verification program from being applied to livestock producers.

The conferees also discussed a Senate-passed provision that would void the use of arbitration as a dispute resolution if any person objected to its use in a contract. House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) noted that this clause would dramatically affect contract law while driving up costs used on trial lawyers, lengthening disputes and opening parties to civil action lawsuits.

When it became apparent that the country-of-origin labeling and arbitration provisions would not be resolved, they were set aside without action.

The National Cotton Council quoted souces saying there have been discussions of a proposal that would raise the corn loan rate from the $1.89 a bushel in the House bill to $1.98 to $2 per bushel and the soybean loan rate from $4.92 to $5.02 to $5.05. The levels are still below the $2.08 for corn and $5.20 for soybeans in the Senate-passed bill, but above the 1% increase that House members of the conference had proposed on April 9.

House Republicans and White House officials argued that loan rates in the Senate bill would over-stimulate crop production, and Senate Democrats said higher loan rates were the best way to get money into farmers' hands.