10/11/06 Changing of the Guard

The elections are less than a month away and it's still unclear if there could be a change in control of the House, Senate or both. But if Democrats win control of the House in November - Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson would likely be the next Chairman of the House Ag Committee. So what could that mean for agriculture? Well for one thing - Peterson suggests that maybe if his party wins back the House - there'll finally be enough GOP support to force action on administration-opposed disaster aid. But after a lame duck session - Peterson says it's on to writing a new farm bill - a bi-partisan one by Peterson and current chair Bob Goodlatte of Virginia. PETERSON: If things switch over there might be slight changes in emphasis but the reality in the Ag committee is that Bob can't pass a bill unless I'm onboard and I can't pass one unless he's onboard. Peterson says the Administration wants to dismantle the current safety net for ideological, budgetary and trade reasons - but argues it won't happen. PETERSON: I don't see this coming to Congress and the Bush administration is not going to write the Farm Bill. Peterson fears the White House strategy is tied to U.S. domestic subsidy concessions of 60-percent in the World Trade Organization talks. He says he favors only limited formula adjustments - and then - to make crops like wheat more viable. PETERSON: We didn't have those target prices long range write off on that. We have to take a look at that situation. In fact I got a thing fro the wheat growers today that I have not confirmed. Apparently they've come up with a proposal they'd like to see. Corn is apparently going to come in and want a different kind of program for their crop. Peterson also wants a permanent disaster-combined crop insurance program to avoid ad hoc aid fights every few years. PETERSON: What I would propose and this isn't written in stone is that we would have a system where you would have to have some buy up coverage in order to quality for the disaster and there would be a pot of money the Secretary would have and there would be a fixed program in place and when they declare a disaster that's what would be used. Peterson claims such a system would cost about half of what the current ad hoc disaster payments cost - and have greater political backing since it would be more self-supporting. Finally - Peterson says he'd like to see a much more aggressive energy title in the next farm bill. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.