Senate Committee Gets Serious on Farm Bill

The Senate Agriculture Committee got down to work this week on its version of a farm bill with Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) making it plain he wants the conservation section to be the centerpiece of the legislation. The committee approved a credit title on Wednesday which adds $50 million in budget authority.

Under the Senate version of the credit title, USDA would have to guarantee a greater amount of certain kinds of lending for beginning farmers. The "down payment loan program" that helps beginning farmers buy land would become more accessible; the loan amount from USDA would increase from 30% to 40% and the loan term from 10 to 20 years.

A pilot program would be authorized to guarantee loans for contract land sales directly from current operators to beginning farmers and ranchers, threby providing another link between retiring farmers who want to sell their land on contract to beginning farmers.

Also, other credit programs would be changed: the interest rate reduction program which provides interest rate assistance to qualified farmers would be made permanent, and some changes would be made to the Farm Credit System such as allowing the FCS to finance warehouses overseas that store U.S. grain.

Harkin's conservation title would fully fund current conservation programs "with a proven record of achieving conservation on lands in Iowa". Conservation Reserve Program acreage would be increased from the current limit of 36.4 million acres to 40 million.

The Wetlands Reserve Program would be increased to 250,000 acres annually, tripling the existing enrollment of wetlands in the program over the next 10 years. Funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program would be increased to $950 million a year including a $100 million loan fund for livestock operations to obtain low intereest loans for manure management facilities.

Increased funding also would be authorized for the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program to $100 million a year. Long term easements would be allowed in addition to cost share provisions to restore wildlife habitat.