03/31/08 Former lawmaker says 50-50 chance of new farm bill

Farm and Ranch March 31, 2008 Congress returns from its spring break this week and faces an April 18th deadline to agree on new farm legislation before the 2nd extension of the 2002 Farm Bill expires. Charlie Stenholm, a former Ranking Member on the House Agriculture Committee, who is now a policy advisor for a Washington D.C. law firm, puts the odds of Congress passing a new farm bill this year at 50-50. He says a one or two year extension of the 2002 law with "tweaks" is looking more probable. Stenholm: "And those tweaks are going to be just as difficult as the House and Senate Committees have had getting a five or 10-year farm bill." And even if Congress can pass an extension Stenholm says it is not a great option. Stenholm: "The biggest downside would be you kick it into an unknown of where you are going to be next year or the year after. The uncertainty. The baseline. The amount of money you would have to spend next year may be considerably less if prices continue to be as good as they are for most agricultural products. Then the baseline goes down. Yes, we have good prices today but we have seen good prices before only to see them evaporate." One of the battles over a new farm bill is whether it should include a permanent disaster program and if so what committee would have jurisdiction over it. And also how to pay for it. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.