food policy

Farm Bill Hearing Focuses on Future of American Ag

By Courtney Lowery, 7-03-07

Farmers and ranchers lined up in Great Falls Monday to tell Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus what they would like prioritized when Congress looks over the 2007 Farm Bill this fall.

At the top of their lists were funding for research, a permanent disaster fund, continuation of conservation programs, an increase in direct payments and implementation of the Country of Origin Labeling program.

Brett DeBruycker, a Dutton-area farmer and rancher and the president of the Montana Cattlemen’s Association said regarding COOL, there was only one thing to say:

“The time is now,” he said. “We’ve been getting stonewalled for five years now.”

He asked the Senators for more congressional oversight on the program, which Congress approved in 2002, but has remained unfunded and unimplemented.

“It’s time to be honest with our consumers,” DeBruycker said. All four members of the panel of ranching representatives said COOL would be a priority, especially as global incidents (tainted products from China) lead to more and more Americans wanting to know where their meat comes from.

COOL is already slated for implementation in 2008, which DeBruycker said would be sufficient, but “let’s make sure we have the rules in place beforehand. Let’s make sure we have the funding beforehand.”

On the panel of farming and nutrition representatives, Darin Arganbright, the president of the Montana Grain Growers Association pushed again and again during the hearing for an increase in the direct payments to farmers.

The direct payment is the most well known and most controversial aspect of the Farm Bill. Direct payments help farmers when the price of their commodity drops, giving them enough to supplement the difference of the cost of production and the sale price.  Even Baucus noted the amount of notoriety the issue has garnered recently “on the front pages of Eastern newspapers.” (He was referring to, among others, reports in the Washington Post this spring detailing how much of the direct payments in the Farm Bill go to corporations or metro areas compared to small farmers in rural America.)

Arganbright said as production costs continue to soar, it will be crucial for Congress to consider increasing the direct payment, which he called a “bankable source of income” for farmers.

“The direct payment has literally been what has put food on their family’s table when their crops have been small,” he said.

But, one of the many farmers who rose to testify during the comment period of the hearing had a different take on the direct payment.

Richard Harwood, from Toole County in the northcentral part of the state, said he’d first like to see the U.S. economy get to a place “where farmers can get their entire income from the sale of our product.”

While the Senators heard differing views and priorities from the group, one overarching theme everyone could agree on was the need to foster a viable future for the next generations of farmers and ranchers in Montana.

When Baucus asked Bob Quinn, who runs an organic farm east of Big Sandy, what he would prioritize in the upcoming farm bill, Quinn was adamant that funding for research would be key for the future of farming.

“Research is really, really critical,” Quinn said. “I’m really interested in long-term visionary goals.”

Quinn, who was representing the Montana Organic Association at the hearing, said organics in particular offer a great opportunity for Montana and American producers.

As demand soars for organic crops, supply hasn’t been able to keep up. And that has forced the country to look at organic imports.

“This is sending money out of the country that could be in the farmers’ pockets right here,” Quinn said.

In his written testimony, Quinn pointed out that he’s working a farm that 20 years ago, could hardly support one family and now it supports two, as well as numerous part-time helpers.

“I believe this new direction could revitalize rural Montana and rural America and bring back the young people who now leave the farm because they see no hope or opportunity,” Quinn said.

Quinn, and others, also said energy independence and the crops that would facilitate that—like camelina and other oilseed crops—present an immense opportunity for the future generation of American agriculture.

When Angela Hucke, a Geraldine area farmer in her mid-20s rose to testify, she was admittedly the embodiment of the “future farmer” the Senators and the panelists kept referring to.

Like Sen. Tester’s daughter, Hucke has returned to take over her family’s farm with her husband and chief on her mind, she said, was having an opportunity to expand.

But, with so much of Montana’s working land in the Conservation Reserve Program, another Farm Bill program that pays farmers and ranchers to take their land out of production, that expansion is nearly impossible, Hucke said.

“It’s become a retirement program,” she said.

Montana has 3.5 million acres in CRP, compared to more than 5 million acres in production, according to Baucus’ office. It’s second in the nation for the amount of land in the program.

Representatives of Ducks Unlimited rose in support of CRP and its sister, the Wetlands Reserve Program, saying both have preserved crucial habitat for waterfowl in the state. Especially as more contracts expire, Linda Daugherty said, it will be important for Congress to support such conservation programs.

As Hucke pointed out however, CRP has had some unintended consequences.

As Hal Herring’s report on amenity ranch buyers here on NewWest.Net several months ago illustrated, CRP has least played a role in raising land prices in central and eastern Montana by making traditional farmland appealing to out-of-state interests.

Stephen Roth, the president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association touched on that increasing price of farmland in his testimony, writing in his written statement: “Today, Montana’s ranches are appraised and valued above and beyond anything we have ever seen. Their values don’t reflect agriculture production values. Instead, ranch values reflect recreational and scenic getaway values.”

Jim Taber, representing the Montana Farm Bureau Federation and a young farmer and rancher himself, also talked at length about the future of agriculture and the hardships that the next generation faces.

He also said he personally, isn’t supportive of CRP, but, he sees some promise in policies that would better graduate CRP lands back into production. In particular, he said the Farm Bureau is “encouraged and hopeful” about Baucus’ possible provision in Senate Bill 1460, which would give two additional CRP payments to landowners who sell land with expiring CRP contracts to beginning farmers and ranchers.

Without those kinds of incentives for the older generation to sell to the younger generation, “American agriculture is going to be headed down,” Taber said.

The hearing, Baucus said, would likely be the last public forum before the Farm Bill goes to vote in Congress. The Farm Bill, which holds funding and policy for the United States Department of Agriculture was last updated in 2002.

Full disclosure: Bob Quinn employs the author’s fiancé, who is doing research on organic vegetables in saline seeps. Brett DeBruycker is a shareholder in New West Publishing.

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