10/30/06 Revenue based farm program proposed

Farm and Ranch October 30, 2006 The National Corn Growers Association has unveiled its proposal for the 2007 Farm Bill. President Ken McCauley says the Corn Growers are proposing a revenue based approach which he says will be especially helpful in years when yields are poor. McCauley: "It is based off your county averages. The base of it has a net revenue coverage that we call Base Revenue Protection and then it has another area that should be really reflective of your LDP and Counter Cyclical. And as everyone knows your LDP doesn't do you any good when you don't raise a crop. So it is designed to cover those individuals when you don't have a crop too." McCauley says the proposal would replace the marketing loan and counter-cyclical programs and he says it has the added advantage of being tough to challenge under World Trade Organization rules. McCauley: "The big deal about the WTO is we are not waiting around to be dictated of what we have to do there. We feel like we are ahead of the game there. We should be covered on that so we are not being challenged all the time in the world court." McCauley says the National Corn Growers is working to gain the backing of other ag and commodity groups. The Board of the National Association of Wheat Growers recently voted to keep the framework of the existing farm bill but increase the target price for wheat as well as direct payments. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.