07/23/08 Implimenting the Farm Bill by mid-09

An American Farm Bureau public policy expert has been looking at the new farm bill and the calendar. Mary Kay Thatcher says it will be mid-2009 before the farm bill is fully implemented. THATCHER "When you think about the big ticket items of the ACRE program and the disaster programs USDA is projecting to us that at best it will be next April. I think actually unless things change maybe its going to be optimistic." Thatcher says implementing the farm bill will grind to a halt after the November election while the new president gets his USDA team in order. But Thatcher says what worries Farm Bureau the most are the comments made by Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer and his chief deputy Chuck Connor. THATCHER "If in the farm bill legislation there was not pretty explicit instructions about how they would write a particular regulation they ought to fall back to the purple book which is what they call the administration's proposal." And administration proposals are something that Thatcher says 'we're not very crazy about.' She says USDA's writing of rules governing subsidy eligibility will receive close scrutiny from the Farm Bureau. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott