NESAWG

Navigating the Farm Bill Landscape…

The good news is that there are many groups working on Farm Bill issues that are important to the Northeast. The not-so-good news is that it’s hard to track and figure out who’s advocating for what. Even harder is figuring out what actions to take, and when. In the months ahead, NESAWG will help members and others in the Northeast navigate this shifting terrain.

The Farm Bill policy development landscape includes groups are based in and focus on the Northeast, or a portion of it. Other groups are national, generating national agendas that have important implications for our region. Some national groups have regional chapters or affiliates that feed policy proposals into a central platform. And of course legislators and the administration are well on their way too.

At first glance, many of the proposals appear to be similar. There are also some fundamental differences in strategies and priorities among groups. In some cases, the devil is in the details, some of which have not been worked through at this point.

Northeast Ag Works! is a project led by NESAWG that focuses on farm and food policy at all levels for the Northeast. At the federal level, the project encourages policy makers and advocates to “think regionally” and to evaluate policy proposals for the extent to which they serve our region. Project partners are working with many of the groups described below to foster regional solidarity, articulate regional priorities and strengthen our regional voice in the upcoming deliberations.

The Northeast Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NEASDA) is comprised of Northeast state commissioners and secretaries of agriculture. NEASDA develops resolutions to bring to its national umbrella, NASDA, and also works as a region to advocate for Farm Bill policies that are responsive to the Northeast. NEASDA and its counterparts have drafted papers profiling their regions and regional diversity as part of NASDA deliberations. At its 2006 summer meeting this June, NEASDA members were quite emphatic about regional approaches and strategies. They see real opportunities for the Northeast in the next Farm Bill and are drafting a position paper addressing options for broad Farm Bill reform to present to NASDA. Key issues for NEASDA include farmland preservation, farm viability, specialty crops, energy, risk management, dairy, and conservation.

The Chesapeake Bay Program is a place-based collaboration of the six states that comprise the Chesapeake Bay watershed, plus the District of Columbia and the Chesapeake Bay Commission. A process that included over 1,000 individuals and organizations and 40 listening sessions resulted in a set of “Concepts for Conservation Reform in the Chesapeake Bay Region”. Signed by five governors, the mayor of DC and the chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, this 2005 document presents background and rationale, and concisely articulates five top Farm Bill priorities for the Bay region. These focus on flexible and targeted funding for on-farm stewardship and increased support for economic viability and technical assistance programs.

The Northeast States Association for Agricultural Stewardship (NSAAS) is an affiliate of the Eastern Regional Conference of the Council of State Governments (CSG). Its membership consists of state legislators who serve on agriculture, natural resource and rural development committees. These legislators are thinking far outside their state “boxes” to how the next Farm Bill will impact their constituents.

NSAAS worked diligently to provide input into the 2002 Farm Bill. This time, it will survey members and identify their priorities. Through CSG, legislators in the other regions will be surveyed as well. NSAAS will seek opportunities to link with them as similar themes emerge from the surveys and regional meetings. NSAAS will work closely with other groups in the Northeast such as NEASDA and regional Farm Bureaus to build a strong regional voice.

The Farm and Food Policy Project (FFPP) is a coalition of diverse interests brought together through grant support to produce recommendations about how the significant resources of the Farm Bill can be better used to further the broad goals of farm, ranch and community economic viability, environmental stewardship, and increased access to healthy food.

Through four work groups (Family Farm Revitalization, Farm and Ranch Stewardship, Healthy Food and Communities, and New Agricultural Markets) hundreds of participants have considered and threshed out policy options that meet their concerns. The resulting dozen core policy initiatives are likely to sustain broad consensus among the diverse participants. The refinement process is continuing—including feedback from the expanding network of FFPP participants – toward a platform of cross-cutting policy initiatives that policy makers and advocates can move forward. People are welcome to join the process at any point.

The National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture’s (NCSA) (www.sustainableagriculture.net) is a diverse nationwide partnership of hundreds of organizations and individuals cultivating grassroots involvement in policy development. Its focus is federal farm and food policy. NCSA’s eight committees – Competition and Concentration, Genetic Engineering, Organic, Rural Development, Sustainable Livestock, Social Justice, Stewardship Incentives, and Appropriations – offer broad issue-focused umbrellas under which participants develop and advocate for specific proposals. Anyone may participate in Committee work, which is done by teleconference. NCSA has a sweeping action alert system to spur timely and targeted input from the grassroots to members of Congress. The Committees will be focusing on the upcoming Farm Bill, but they also work on other relevant legislation (e.g., food safety, nutrition).

SAWGs and SAC… There are five regional sustainable agriculture working groups (SAWG): Northeast, Midwest, Southern, Western and California. SAWGs are independent organizations that share a common acronym and many goals. They vary considerably in structure, composition, and priority areas of work. For some, including NESAWG, federal food and farm policy is a priority. NESAWG brings a wide diversity of organizational and grassroots interests to national policy-making. It is bringing regional voices and perspectives to the Farm Bill debate and organizing grassroots participation at the regional level. As a network, NESAWG does not take policy positions and does not engage in lobbying activity. Rather, it informs and engages groups and citizens to enable them to participate in public policy development such as the Farm Bill.

The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (SAC) is a coalition of groups that together take positions and provide financial support for direct representation (lobbying) on a focused set of priority policies before Congress and federal administrative agencies. SAC maintains a Washington, D.C. office. Historically, SAC was a subset of the Midwest SAWG, but as of 2003 membership is open to “sustainable agriculture groups nationwide.” SAC plays a critical role in the Farm Bill process by providing “inside-the-Beltway” savvy to effect change on issues such as marketing, conservation, research, beginning farmers, and credit.

In April, American Farmland Trust announced its “Agenda 2007: a New Framework for U.S. Farm Policy.” From a set of guiding principles, AFT articulates “three pillars to support new farm policies: 1) a safety net; 2) environmental stewardship; and 3) new markets. Under AFT’s safety net proposal, “green payments would reward farmers for their environmental stewardship and risk management programs would help farmers manage revenue volatility. A phase-in of green payments … would be coordinated with the gradual phase-out of the current, fixed direct payments that farmers have been receiving.”

New risk management programs would replace current payments that are tied to price movements of specific crops with market-oriented and revenue-based risk protection. Cost-share based conservation programs payments would complement green payments for producers who change their practices to improve environmental quality. To increase economic opportunities, AFT proposes a new farm profitability grants program, combining specialty crop block grants and new funding for states, plus programs to develop new markets and products, including bio-fuels.

Oxfam (OA) is focused on major Farm Bill reform, specifically shifting support away from commodity subsidies and toward rural development, infrastructure, land preservation, and healthy communities. OA’s position is that “the current Farm bill does very little to help poor farmers, … even less to assist impoverished rural communities … and it actually hurts rural communities around the world..” OA has five field organizers positioned throughout the US to gather input and organize communities. One is covering New England and another is located in Virginia and reaches into the mid-Atlantic states.

Environmental Defense (ED) is a national organization that is focusing on conservation and other Farm Bill programs. ED believes that “the present federal Farm Bill short-changes our [Northeast] region’s farmers and forestland owners” rather than providing them with dollars for environmentally sound and economically viable farming. ED has contracted with field representatives in New England and New York to work with the “region’s farmers and agricultural constituencies to help form coalitions which will hopefully result in a fairer federal farm bill for our region.” Specific areas of interest for ED include regional supply infrastructure, linking producers and consumers, energy, forestry and farm safety net programs.

At their 87th annual meeting in January, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) delegates voted to support extending the current Farm Bill until a new world trade agreement is reached. They also reaffirmed their opposition to farm payment limits, and supported creation of “an energy escalator clause” in farm policy to address the impacts of higher fuel and fertilizer costs on farm profitability. In June, Northeast Farm Bureau presidents and directors will meet in New York, where it’s likely that regional Farm Bill issues will be discussed.

In its 2005 report, “Making American Agriculture Productive and Profitable”, a study group of Farm Bureau members, including from Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts, proposed a vision for American agriculture in 2019 (the 100th anniversary of Farm Bureau) accompanied by policy recommendations that resonate for our region. Among these are: creating a revenue-based farm income safety net that is available to all agricultural commodities; farm savings accounts; addressing research needs that recognize regional differences; support for innovative marketing strategies particularly for mid-size farms; policies that address urbanizing as well as rural counties; and conservation program eligibility that recognizes regional differences. If the Farm Bill moves toward reauthorization in 2007, these recommendations are likely to receive attention.

Bread for the World Institute and The Nature Conservancy are national organizations with specific interests in the upcoming Farm Bill. TNC has announced its “platform” distilled into seven key themes focused on conservation policy, including climate change, invasive species and land conversion. Bread for the World’s (www.bread.org) upcoming 2007 Hunger Report, tentatively titled “Healthy Food and Farm Policy,” will weave core Farm Bill issues such as commodity payments, conservation, trade, nutrition and rural development together.

Within the federal government, the administration and Congress are also on a Farm Bill track. Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) hosted 52 Farm Bill forums in 48 states (all but Louisiana and Mississippi where the focus was on hurricane relief) (www.USDA.gov/farmbill) to collect comments about Farm Bill reauthorization. Now, Secretary Johanns is drafting a series of briefing papers based on gleanings from session summary documents. The listening session testimony of everyone who spoke in the Northeast was collected and transcribed by NESAWG and the Northeast Midwest Institute to gather policy concerns and recommendations specific to our region. The first USDA briefing paper, released in May, discusses risk management — current approaches and three policy alternatives. These papers are presented as “candidates for further public discussion on potentially effective approaches for development of the 2007 Farm Bill.” Theme papers and session transcripts are available from the USDA website.

The House Committee on Agriculture launched a web-based farm bill feedback form on its website The web-based form allows producers throughout the nation to provide the Committee with feedback about current farm policy as well as input about the future of farm policy. As a companion to field hearings, the Committee believes information from a broad range of producers “is helpful to the Committee as we prepare to consider the farm bill reauthorization next year.” The form can be accessed at www.agriculture.house.gov by clicking on the Farm Bill Feedback icon.

The Committee is conducting approximately a dozen field hearings throughout the country to gather feedback from producers and review current farm policy. To date, the Committee has convened hearings in North Carolina, Alabama, California, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas. NESAWG does not know whether any field hearings will be conducted in the Northeast. Representative Tim Holden (17th district, PA) is the only member from the Northeast.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is conducting Farm Bill field hearings beginning this summer. A hearing will be held in Pennsylvania on July 21. The purpose of the hearings is to “determine what producers want, need, and desire for the 2007 Farm Bill.” The focus will be on commodity and conservation programs and other “farmer-focused” programs. Rural development, nutrition, research and other Farm Bill titles will be addressed in subsequent DC hearings. All of the testifying witnesses will be producers chosen by the Committee chair based on suggestions from members and agriculture interest groups. Committee members from the Northeast are Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rick Santorum (R-PA).

The Senate Eggplant Caucus and Northeast Congressional Agriculture Caucus are informal alliances in each house of Congress. Each provides a forum for members to talk with each other, administration officials, and other federal policy makers, and to represent the concerns of Northeast farmers. These leaders – and their staff – will be critical allies for Northeast advocates as Farm Bill deliberations heat up.

The Senate Eggplant Caucus is comprised primarily of senators from Northeast states, formed to “help educate their … colleagues about the significant agricultural bounty – and needs – of the Northeast … states.” The name suggests its emphasis on farms, crops and issues traditionally underserved by policies focused on program. This coalition, cited in a New York Times editorial as “more feared than the boll weevil” by “big farm states”, was active in the 2002 Farm Bill process and is preparing for the upcoming round.

The Northeast Agriculture Caucus was originally formed in 1986, and reformed in 2005 for the 109th Congress. This caucus provides an opportunity for members of Congress in Northeast states to work together on issues affecting farmers in our region. In a recent press release, Caucus member Tim Holden (PA) noted, “We stand a better chance of being heard on an issue when we speak collectively with a united voice to represent the concerns of our constituents in Northeast agricultural communities.”

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That’s quite a populated Farm Bill landscape. (Apologies to omitted groups; let us know about you!) For us in the Northeast, it’s a landscape of possibility, with many groups looking out for Northeast interests. There are lots of doors and avenues to get involved – to help make sure that the next Farm Bill serves our region’s farmers, consumers and communities.