White House will influence farm bill conference committee

The farm bill is certainly one of the topics of discussion at the annual National Farmers Organization meeting in Milwaukee this week. Ag Policy Analyst, Gene Paul says while both versions of the bill are quite traditional that threatened Presidential veto will have an impact. "I think both the House and the Senate want a bill that the President will sign," says Paul, "So I think they will keep an ear to the White House to see what they will accept."

Paul says both versions of the bill are quite similar to the last bill although there are exceptions, "As far as conservation is concerned, there's a great deal of talk on the energy issues and so on," but overall he sees it as a traditional farm bill. While his organization does think there should be some type of reform regarding payment caps, the board has not taken a specific position yet. "There could and should be some reform in the amount of money that is being paid to people who have absolutely no connection to farming other than that they happen to own some farmland." As fewer members of Congress represent farmers, there is an increasing need to scrutinize these program funds.

One of the differences between the House and Senate versions of the farm bill is with disaster aid. The House would continue with the current ad-hoc style of dealing with disasters while the Senate version creates a permanent disaster aid program. Paul says NFO supports the permanent program, "It seems like every year there's some area of the country that does experience some sort of disaster and we would like to see something in place that they know is there and available to them as needed."