Bill Huffman
Director - Government Relations

The Friday Report

July 2, 2010

Senate Agriculture Committee

The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee held its first 2012 Farm Bill hearing this week. In an opening statement, Chairman Blanche Lincoln focused on the need to strengthen the Farm Bill’s safety net program and ensure that the bill’s components work for every region and every program crop. Those testifying at the Committee hearing included Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack who focused his comments on the population and income decline in rural areas and the need for further funding of nutrition programs.

American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman (a rice producer from Texas) said, “The 2012 Farm Bill must continue to provide the nation’s farmers a dependable safety net, but given today’s tight budget outlook, the legislation must also be fiscally responsible.”  Stallman said the best way to do that is to maintain the basic funding structure and baseline of the 2008 Farm Bill.

The Senate Agriculture Committee plans to hold additional hearings this summer as it prepares for drafting of the next Farm Bill.

FY 2011 Funding

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged Congress on Thursday to reauthorize the child nutrition programs this next fiscal year with a big increase in funding. Testifying before the House Education and Labor Committee, Vilsack said “A cut might be possible in the environmental quality incentives program and other USDA programs to pay for it.

The Committee is considering a bill by its Chairman George Miller, Jr. of California that would make it easier for low income children to qualify for free meals and would improve the quality of such meals. The bill by Chairman Miller would provide another $8 billion for child nutrition. As we reported earlier, the Senate Agriculture Committee already approved a bill to increase spending for that program by $4.5 billion.

With the suggestion by Secretary Vilsack to cut “conservation and environmental programs”, a coalition of conservation groups sent Congress a letter Thursday opposing any cut in conservation programs to pay for an increase in child nutrition.

It is just a matter of time before conservation advocates and child nutrition advocates take aim at farm subsidies as a source of funding for expansion of the child nutrition program.

Meanwhile, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee unanimously approved a bill, after hours of debate, to fully fund major spending in FY 2011 for energy and conservation programs at USDA. The panel rejected a number of amendments that would have cut spending across the board and eliminated the Conservation Stewardship Program.

We should note that Democratic leaders are saying that the fate of their FY 2011 Agriculture spending bill is unclear because of gridlock over the 2011 Federal Budget, the deficit, and because they are behind in adopting other appropriation measures to fund the various Federal agencies. This, they say, may result in an Omnibus spending bill in October when the government’s new fiscal year begins. All FY 2011 spending bills will be wrapped up into a single bill and adopted before Congress adjourns for the year.

Northern California Water Association

We are pleased to report that David Guy has rejoined the Northern California Water Association (NCWA) as its President. David previously served as Executive Director of the Association before spending the last three years working for the Yosemite Foundation. Mr. Guy is a well respected attorney specializing in water and reclamation law and he will be leading the Association’s efforts protecting Northern California water rights and area of origin protections and will be guiding the Association and its members during the upcoming Bay/Delta hearings and debate.

Farmers’ Rice Cooperative is an associate member of NCWA. We are pleased that David has returned to lead the association.