Peterson breaks down the 2008 farm bill during visit to Marshall
Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Collin Peterson, DFL-Minn., told area farmers and agriculture leaders during Monday’s visit to Marshall that the initial language of the farm bill should be completed by the end of the week.
“We expect to have our language out Friday afternoon for what you would call the chairman’s mark on the farm bill,” said Peterson.
“We intend to mark-up on July 17 so people have the language for 10 or 11 days before we have a mark-up we’re pushing.”
Peterson said the 2008 farm bill will be split into two separate bills focusing on what can currently be funded and future funding.
“I’m going to split the work that has been done by the subcommittees into two bills,” said Peterson. “The reason I’m doing that is because of this (pay as you go) situation.”
Peterson said the first part of the farm bill, the portion that will have built-in funding, will look like the 2002 farm bill.
“The part of the bill that will be paid for will look a lot like the 2002 bill,” said Peterson. “The direct payments will not change; they will be in the bill for the whole amount that they are now.”
Peterson said the farm bill will have some alterations to it, giving an equal loan rate to corn, barley and sorghum.
“We’re going to be equalizing barley and sorghum with corn and equalizing the loan rates and target prices,” said Peterson. “That is something I’ve been working on since 2002 and tried to fix in the 2002 bill.”
Peterson said the target prices for wheat and soybeans are set for an increase in the new bill.
“We’re also going to raise the target price on wheat and soybeans,” said Peterson. “For wheat we’re going to $4.15, and the national wheat growers have signed off on that. We’re going to raise the target price on soybeans to $6.10.”
Some areas Peterson said the committee is still working on to determine if it will be paid for or go into the second bill include some areas of renewable energy.
“The energy part of this, we intend to do a $2 billion renewable energy program that at this point the offsets have not been identified,” said Peterson.
“I think we’ll get $2 billion out of the HR6 bill which is the bill that raises money on oil taxes,” he added. “If that is done before July 17, that will be in the first part of the farm bill; if not, hopefully it will get done before it goes to the floor.”
Peterson said one area that he is committed to include in the farm bill is permanent disaster assistance.
He said there is no real cost savings by taking it on in a case-by-case basis.
Minnesota Farmers Union President Doug Peterson said splitting the farm bill is a first- of-its-kind measure that shows the creative work Collin Peterson has been able to do.
Doug Peterson said he was glad to have Rep. Peterson serving as the chairman, giving area farmers the chance to get a firsthand look at the farm bill.
“I’m so happy that we have Collin as the chairman. We would never have this opportunity to find out about the ag bill. When you live far away from Washington D.C. you don’t always get to know what is going on. It really allows this part of the country direct input.”
