Bill Huffman
Director - Government Relations

The Friday Report

March 5, 2010

We are pleased to report that FRC Director Charlie Hoppin has been reappointed by Governor Swarzenegger to continue as Chairman of the State Water Resources Control Board. Charlie has served on that Board for three years and was Chairman this past year. Congratulations to Charlie!

Washington Update

It is hard to believe it is time to start thinking about the next Farm Bill. While the leadership of Farmers’ Rice Cooperative was in Washington, D.C. the week before last, we heard a report from House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson that he would begin hearings on the 2012 Farm Bill at the end of this month. This begins the process of receiving “input” from the various interest groups and getting commodity groups, such as rice, to begin thinking about the next farm program.

Chairman Peterson told us he expects the farm program to be under attack again, especially “direct payments” and “payment limit rules”. He called upon farm groups to begin thinking about a “better way” to deliver a safety net to producers.

Mr. Peterson said he plans to begin drafting a Committee farm bill early next year (2011), which would be after the elections this fall. We expect there will be Subcommittee hearings around the country during the August recess this summer. There will be at least one hearing in California. The House Agriculture Subcommittees are expected to begin markup of their respective titles for a new bill in early 2011, which tracks with Chairman Peterson’s timeline.

What do we expect will be the big issues this time around?

• Direct payments to producers participating in their respective commodity programs such as the rice, wheat, cotton, oilseeds, and corn programs.
• Another attempt to lower payment limits, especially the adjusted gross income thresholds.
• Conservationists will be seeking more money for conservation and so-called “green programs”.
• Renewable fuels will be in the debate seeking more money for research and tax incentives for bio-diesel and ethanol.
• Nutrition advocates most certainly will be seeking more funding for food stamps, the WIC program, the school lunch program and for nutrition education.
• Specialty crops will be seeking more money for their marketing development and educational programs.
• Organic farming groups will be seeking their share of USDA funding.
• Backyard and small inter-city farming advocates will be back seeking funding for whatever their program might be.

A big issue likely will be budgetary. How much money will be available for the next farm program in these tough economic times with the high Federal deficits?

We think the stage is already being set by the Obama Administration to try to cut farm programs. The Administration is seeking,  in its FY 2011 budget proposal, to cut $2.3 billion from commodity programs over 10-years and they want to cut crop insurance by $8 billion over the same period of time. They also want to revisit payment limits proposing to cut direct payments to $30,000 per person with a three year phase in and lowering the adjusted gross income threshold for producers to be eligible to receive a farm program or conservation payment.

As the House Agriculture Committee moves forward with hearings for the 2012 Farm Bill, the Senate Agriculture Committee has not even mentioned the next Farm Bill. We would expect the Senate committee to not even consider farm policy until after the November election, probably sometime in the spring or summer of 2011.

FRC Fund

Farmers’ Rice Cooperative would like to thank the many members and staff of the Cooperative who have contributed to its political action program, the FRC Fund. For those members who have yet to contribute, we encourage you to send in your contributions sooner rather than later. We are receiving many requests from our Congressional friends for their reelection campaign and it is important in this election year to help those who have helped the rice industry.

If you need a new contribution form or have a question, please feel free to call Bill Huffman at (916) 768-4416.

Thank you again for your support of this important FRC program.