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farm bill deal is done!
In closed door meetings May 7th, Congress reportedly wrapped up farm bill negotiations and is expected to release details in a press conference on May 8th. House and Senate floor votes are expected to take place next week in advance of the May 16th deadline. Amidst a White House veto threat, lawmakers are also building support for a veto override—which would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.
The final bill may not include all the changes we would like to see, but there are many potential improvements over the alternative—extension of the 2002 Farm Bill. Based on what we know, we stand to make real gains:
- $4 billion over baseline funding for conservation and working lands programs to protect our water, air and soil quality and improvements to the Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program to allow for local decision making.
- The Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program that will allow farmers to chose revenue-based, market oriented protection instead of subsidy payments based on politically set target prices.
- Funding for critical local food programs such as the Farmers Market Promotion Program, Community Food Project grants and the Healthy Food Enterprise Development Center—programs that will help keep local farmland viable and the local and regional food systems thriving.
- Support for families struggling with the rising cost of food through increase spending on Food Stamps and other nutrition programs.
Farm Community and Public Call for Reform:
Average Crop Revenue Election Program is step in the right direction
To ensure a safe and secure food supply, farmers need a safety net when disaster hits and tools to help them manage risk. But existing subsidy programs are complex, costly for taxpayers, and distort the marketplace. They often fail to provide protection when needed and are not applied equitably.
The new Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program is an innovative and forward looking proposal that fundamentally changes the way commodity subsidies operate. The ACRE program may be small, but it could be mighty—paving the way for subsidy reform now and in the future.
the Energy Bill and Agriculture
The energy bill that passed in December 2007 has significant implications for agriculture and increased incentives for both conventional (e.g. corn ethanol) and advanced biofuels (e.g. cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass). The new Renewable Fuels Standard calls for 15 billion gallons of conventional biofuels by 2015—tripling current production—and 36 billion gallons of total ethanol by 2022, of which over-half must be advanced biofuels that reduce emissions by 50 percent above gasoline or diesel. Current corn ethanol technology attains approximately a 10 to 15 percent reduction.
AFT applauds the energy bill, but warns it must include more environmental safeguards. While there are requirements that conventional biofuels must achieve a lifecycle greenhouse-gas reduction of at least 20 percent and cultivation is restricted to land that is already in production, there are no requirements for avoiding other environmental impacts such as increased water pollution or soil erosion. Additional funding for conservation programs in the farm bill is critical to ensuring that renewable fuel production is a net positive for agriculture, the economy, and the environment.
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