Environmental Group Praises Introduction of Farm Bill Reform Legislation on Eve on Senate Agriculture Committee Markup
October 23, 2007
Sharyn Stein – 202-572-3396 or sstein@environmentaldefense.org
(Washington, DC – October 23, 2007) Environmental Defense praised a bipartisan group of eight U.S. senators for introducing legislation today to reform farm policy to help more farmers on the eve the Senate Agriculture Committee markup of the 2007 farm bill. The reform legislation, The Farm Ranch Equity Stewardship and Health (FRESH) Act of 2007, is authored by Senate Agriculture Committee Member Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and cosponsored by Senators Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Susan Collins (R-ME), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Jack Reed (D-RI), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
The FRESH Act would provide an innovative, cost-saving farm safety net while overhauling crop subsidy programs, which currently help only one-third of American farmers. It would provide $6 billion more than the current farm bill in funding for farm conservation programs that help farmers improve water quality, air quality, and wildlife habitat and protect working farm and ranchland from sprawl. The $6 billion in additional conservation funding, $1.2 billion more than the Senate Agriculture Committee draft bill, is needed because currently two-out-of-three farmers and ranchers who offer to participate in these conservation programs are rejected due to misplaced spending priorities. The FRESH Act also would increase funding for nutrition and renewable energy programs and programs that benefit producers of fruits and vegetables and increase consumer access to healthier, locally grown food.
The FRESH Act would provide free crop revenue insurance to all commodity, fruit and vegetable growers and small farmers; most fruit and vegetable growers and small farmers lack insurance today. The FRESH Act would target government assistance to help farmers when farm revenue declines, and would not provide subsidies to farms when they don’t need help.
“Supporters of current crop subsidies always talk about helping small farms, but the FRESH Act is the only bill that actually walks the walk,” said Tim Male, a senior scientist at Environmental Defense. “By offering revenue insurance to all farmers - no matter what they grow - the FRESH Act would end the current unfair policy of picking favorites among crops and farmers.”
“This bill offers senators who recognize the inequity of our current farm policies a much more fair alternative,” said Sara Hopper, an attorney at Environmental Defense. “This reform legislation would benefit more farmers in more states and do a better job of addressing important national priorities – cleaner air and water, healthier food for our children, and renewable energy.”
Increasing conservation funding in the 2007 farm bill will help ensure that more states and regions get a fairer share of Farm Bill spending because all farmers can be eligible for conservation funding, regardless of what they grow, how much they grow or where their farm is located. Crop subsidies primarily benefit growers of five row crops: corn, cotton, rice, soybean and wheat. As a result, over 50 percent of all Farm Bill spending flows to just seven states.
Recent public opinion polls conducted September 18-21 by Zogby International for Environmental Defense in Colorado, New York, Oregon, Virginia and Washington state found that more than three out of four (76% to 85%) of poll respondents in each state agreed that their U.S. senators should support shifting money from farm subsidies to conservation programs. If that reform effort succeeded, more than six out of 10 (62% to 77%) of the poll respondents in each state said they would have a more favorable opinion of Congress (see complete poll results at www.environmentaldefense.org/farms).
“The bipartisan bill will inject a welcome breath of fresh air into the farm bill debate in the Senate,” concluded Male.