Bill Huffman
Director - Government Relations

The Friday Report

April 23, 2010

The House Agriculture Committee held its first meeting this week to discuss the 2012 Farm Bill and the schedule for Committee’s field hearings has been released. Here in California water transfers have been confirmed from the Sacramento Valley.

Farm Bill Hearings

The House Agriculture Committee met Wednesday for an initial session to discuss the development of the 2012 Farm Bill. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was the only witness. The hearing was the first of what will be several as Chairman Collin Peterson moves forward with his schedule for hearings in preparation for drafting a bill early next year and possibly House passage by early summer of 2011.

This week’s hearing was to get input on the status of the current farm bill, to gather information about what is working and what is not, and to get commodity groups and other interested parties to begin thinking about any fundamental changes that may be needed to stay within the budget baseline projected by the Congressional Budget Office for 2012 and future years.

It is interesting to note that Peterson and Committee member Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin, D-South Dakota both commented on the Average Crop Revenue Program (ACRE), a program created in the 2008 Farm Bill that was supposed to shield farmer revenue from poor yields as well as low prices. There has been very low enrollment in that program (especially from rice) as many farmers elected to continue participating in the direct payment program. Peterson and Sandlin both said the ACRE program needs to be re-examined to determine what fundamental changes need to be made to make the program more acceptable to producers.

In comments at the beginning of the hearing, Peterson discussed potential paths for future farm policy. He mentioned revenue-protection programs, which might be combined with disaster funds or crop insurance coverage, or a crafting of farm supports so benefits go to producers rather than landowners. He also has mentioned on a number of occasions his concern that direct payments are being factored into rents.

The Committee has scheduled four field hearings through May 4th.  One of those hearings will be held in Fresno, California at the Fresno City Hall Council Chambers on Monday, May 3rd beginning at 9 a.m. 

New Climate Change Legislation

Three U.S. Senators who are writing a new climate control-energy bill are expected to unveil the bill next week, perhaps as soon as Monday. Senators John Kerry, D-Mass, Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, and Joe Lieberman, Independent-Conn, have been working for weeks to try to reach agreement on a “bi-partisan” bill to address many of the climate and energy issues that have been the target of various other climate-energy bills introduced in Congress this past year.

In comments to the news media, Senator Lieberman told reporters he met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to discuss prospects for the bill. Lieberman said “Senator Reid definitely is committed to bringing the energy-climate bill up as soon as we’re ready.”

Passage of a bill may be difficult this year but it appears some in the Senate are still trying to move climate-energy legislation.

Another Jury Award Against Bayer CropScience

There has been another jury award against Bayer CropScience over the contamination of Southern long grain rice four years ago. A jury in Lonoke County, Arkansas awarded twelve Arkansas rice farmers nearly $50 million for damages from Bayer’s allowing a genetically altered strain of rice (Liberty Link) to escape into the commercial market in 2006. The case was the fourth to go to trial among dozens filed by rice-belt farmers again Bayer CropScience.

California Water Sales

We have been hearing there would be water sales and transfers this year and that was confirmed in an article this week by the Chico Enterprise Record. Several water districts on the east side of the Sacramento Valley who receive water from the State Water Project were given approval to proceed with water transfers. The newspaper reported Western Canal District has growers signed up to fallow land and transfer 17,000 acre feet of water, the Richvale Irrigation District will be transferring about 16,500 acre feet and  Biggs-West Gridley Water District reportedly will sell and transfer 13,000 acre-feet of water.

Under Measure “G” regulations in Butte County which was passed in 1996, surface water that is sold and transferred cannot be substituted with groundwater without county approval.

In Sutter County, the Sutter Extension Water District will be selling about 6,000 acre feet of water and there will be groundwater substitution that will add another 4,000 acre feet to be transferred according to the newspaper.

The water being transferred will be priced at $250 per acre foot. Between 20,000-22,000 acres of rice will be fallowed as a result of these water transfers.