Senate Passes Farm Bill

The U.S. Senate passed its version of the Farm Bill on Friday by a 79-14 vote on Friday. The measure includes farm income protection, makes investments for the future in energy, conservation, nutrition and rural development initiatives and stays within strict budget limits. President Bush has indicated that he will veto the bill.

President Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin (IA-D) said: “This is a strong, bipartisan bill – evident by the fact that it passed Committee after only one day of deliberation with no negative votes voiced against it and passed the Senate today by an overwhelming majority. After months of negotiations, we were able to work within a very strict budget allocation to complete our work and pass a farm bill that is good for agriculture, good for rural areas and good for the health of Americans” said Chairman Harkin. “This is a forward-looking farm bill with greatly strengthened initiatives to support renewable energy, conservation, nutrition, rural development and to promote better diets and health for all Americans. It maintains a strong safety net for farm producers, and strengthens programs that will help agricultural producers of all kinds across our nation.”

The bill includes provisions for a new Producer Income Protection title that gives producers the option to choose to participate in a state-level revenue protection system. The Average Crop Revenue program offers producers options for managing risk on their farms in today’s uncertain, rapidly changing farm environment. Specialty crop producers will receive greater financial assistance under the bill.

A conference committee comprised of member of the House and Senate will now work out differences between the chambers’ versions of the farm bill. It is expected that the conference committee will meet after the beginning of the New Year. The Associated Press has published a comparison the House and Senate bills. (Read)