04/27/07 American Farm Bureau Farm Bill recommendations

Washington Ag April 27, 2007 The nation's largest general farm organization, the American Farm Bureau Federation, has issued its list of recommendations for the 2007 Farm Bill. Federation President Bob Stallman says Farm Bureau members produce everything from apples to wheat and their proposal reflects that agricultural diversity. Stallman: "We have to resolve the regional differences, the commodity differences and so we try to be comprehensive and inclusive in this across all the production sectors." The American Farm Bureau's proposal includes maintaining the baseline funding for the commodity title and conservation title; supports a revenue based counter cyclical safety net program; supports a standing catastrophic assistance program that is integrated with a rebated crop insurance program; and opposes any changes to payment limitations and income testing. The proposal also supports eliminating the fruit and vegetable planting prohibition. Stallman says Farm Bureau's recommendations take budget constraints and trade obligations into account and estimates its proposal would cost 519 billion dollars over ten years, the same as the Congressional Budget Office baseline. Full details are at www.fb.org I'm Bob Hoff.