"Green payments" earmarked for U.S. farm aid
Date: 14-Feb-03
Country: USA
Author: Charles Abbott
Farm-state lawmakers protested a decree by Republican leaders in Congress for cuts in agriculture spending to offset compensation for crop and livestock losses in 2001 and 2002. But aides and lobbyists said it appeared the demand would be accepted.
Disaster aid was one of the final items delaying action on a $397 billion omnibus spending bill to pay for many federal activities this year. Leaders want to send the bill to the White House by the end of this week.
Lawmakers and congressional staffers said the newly created Conservation Security Program would be tapped for the disaster funding. It was the least painful choice among programs because CSP was months, or even years, away from operation.
"It looks like they're going to do it," said one staff worker in the early evening. A Senate Agriculture Committee spokesman said at midday, "It's a done deal," but there was no immediate corresponding statement from House Agriculture Committee leaders.
Most of the $3.1 billion would go to farmers and ranchers who certify they lost at least 15 percent of a crop. Documentation would be required for payments on losses beyond that level, according to the Senate spokesman. That was a tougher criteria than initially proposed. Farm-state lawmakers in the House have pressed for better targeting of aid.
CSP would reward growers who practice land, water and wildlife stewardship as part of their day-to-day work with "green payments" of up to $50,000 a year. Its leading sponsor, Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, has hailed CSP as the new centerpiece for U.S. farm supports.
URBAN LAWMAKERS LESS WILLING TO HELP FARMERS
Farm groups and their allies in Congress said it was unfair and a poor precedent to require budgetary offsets for disaster relief. "Pretty soon, there wouldn't be a farm program left," said one farm lobbyist.
They warned that "reopening" the farm law would disrupt farm supports and might tempt a raid on farm funding to pay for other programs as well.
Missouri Republican Jo Ann Emerson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said cutting CSP might be a temporary inconvenience. "We can put it (the money) back" later, she said.
Congress has enacted $30.5 billion in emergency aid since late 1998 to shelter producers from low prices and weather losses. With the return to federal deficits, the soft economy and war possible, there was less willingness among urban lawmakers to aid farmers less than a year after agriculture was promised an additional $73.5 billion through 2011.
A week ago, the Bush administration suggested CSP spending should be capped at $2 billion through fiscal 2011. Some forecasts say it could cost $7 billion or more in that span.
According to a Senate version, the aid plan to be included in the omnibus bill would send a check to growers in counties declared a disaster area if they certify they lost at least 15 percent of a grain, cotton or oilseed crop.
The payment would equal 25 percent of a farmer's guaranteed annual farm subsidy.
Growers in other counties would be eligible if they could provide records showing a similar loss.
Additional payments would be offered for losses that exceed 15 percent, but all farmers would have to document their losses. The losses would be compensated at a percentage of the price coverage offered through crop insurance.
Fruit and vegetable growers, and farmers with other crops not covered by the farm program, would be compensated for losses that exceed 35 percent of a normal crop at a percentage of price coverage offered by crop insurance. The percentage would be 45 percent for growers with insurance and 40 percent for those without.
Other major points were:
- $225 million to replenish an account used to buy surplus crops.
- $250 million for livestock feed assistance.
- reopening enrollment for a program that sends payments, ranging from $4.50 per sheep to $31.50 per dairy cow, to livestock producers in disaster are
