07/24/07 Reformer to challenge Farm Bill on House floor

Farm and Ranch July 24, 2007 Critics of current farm programs don't think the farm bill unanimously adopted by the House Agriculture Committee goes far enough in reforming commodity programs. Wisconsin Democrat Ron Kind is one of those who wants to see greater reform and he will unveil an amendment today he will be offering during the debate on the House Floor this week. Among other things Kind says his farm bill plan would phase out direct payments in light of high commodity prices. Kind: "And the question a lot of my colleagues are asking me in Congress is how can we justify tens of billions of dollars going to these grain producers at near or record prices? And they are right! They are unjustifiable. This is going to be the third farm bill now where we still have direct payments when it was supposed to be a transitory program in the 1990s. And instead of phasing them out the committee is actually ramping up the payment caps so it is going in the opposite direction of reform from what is was originally intended with these direct payments." Kind proposes to redirect commodity support funds to conservation, rural development, energy, and specialty crops. The congressman received a surprising number of votes for a similar plan on the House floor during the 2002 Farm Bill debate and Kind anticipates large bipartisan support for his amendment to the 2007 Farm Bill. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.