NFU Statement: House Ag Committee Approves Farm Bill
For Immediate Release: July 20, 2007
Contact: Liz Friedlander, 202-314-3191Supporting Audio: 3 tracks
WASHINGTON (July 20, 2007) – National Farmers Union commended Chairman Collin Peterson and members of the House Agriculture Committee today, following the committee’s unanimous approval of the 2007 Farm Bill. The bill protects the safety net for farmers when prices fall and includes a process to guarantee mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL) is implemented.
“Last night Chairman Peterson did what many believed impossible just a few weeks ago,” NFU President Tom Buis said. “The decreased budget baseline created many obstacles but Peterson and the other members of the committee made lemonade out of lemons. Their hard work and long hours have paid off and I believe this bill will have broad support across the countryside.”
“This is a good bill, with a good safety net and good reform,” Buis said.
The bill:
- Provides a counter-cyclical safety net for farmers when prices are low;
- Establishes a process for implementing mandatory COOL. COOL was included in the 2002 Farm Bill but has been implementation has been delayed for five years.
- Approves interstate shipment of state inspected meat;
- Makes adjustments to payment limit provisions. Individuals with a three year average adjusted gross income (AGI) greater than $1 million are ineligible to receive benefits from federal farm and conservation programs. Eliminates the triple-entity rule and provides direct attribution of payments to individuals to prevent circumvention of limits.
- Rebalances loan rates by raising them for wheat, sorghum, oilseeds and sugar;
- Prevents the closure or relocation of any Farm Service Agency (FSA) office for a period of one full year following the enactment of the overall bill;
- Increases assistance for fruits and vegetables, conservation, food and nutrition programs; and
- Authorizes a permanent disaster assistance program.
“This committee-approved farm bill will benefit not just family farmers and ranchers, but consumers, who have waited five years for country of origin labeling,” Buis said. “I am pleased the committee listened to the will of the people and took the steps necessary to ensure that COOL is implemented.”
Buis said that NFU will continue to promote NFU priorities that are not included in the committee’s bill, such as a competition title, voluntary arbitration and prohibiting dairy forward contracting. The bill now heads to the House floor for full House consideration on Thursday, July 26.
