Omaha World-Herald | December 8, 2001
The Iowa Democrat wins support from environmental groups for more conservation funds.
By Jake Thompson | SOURCE: WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
WASHINGTON - With the Senate heading to a decisive week on rewriting federal farm laws, Sen. Tom Harkin added money for conservation Friday to his proposed farm bill and won key environmental endorsements.
The chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee raised the amount of money the government would pay farmers and ranchers for conservation programs by $ 1 billion to a total of $ 43 billion over 10 years, mainly by trimming dairy spending.
Harkin aimed his conservation move at Eastern and Western senators whose produce and fruit farmers generally don't benefit much from the large government subsidies given to growers of crops such as corn, sorghum, soybeans, cotton and wheat. "It's going to bring a lot of people into the farm program who've never been in it before," Harkin said at a press conference, where he was joined by environmental leaders.
The Iowa Democrat scrambled for supporters as he faced a daunting challenge of trying to get the Senate to finish a farm bill next week, work out significant differences with a House-passed bill and then send a final product to a reluctant President Bush before Christmas.
"I think they can see the handwriting's on the wall," Harkin said of the White House. "We've got the farm bill up, people want to go home. I think we can get it done, I really do."
The White House opposes Harkin's approach, arguing its large subsidies to major crop growers will only prod farmers to overproduce and suppress prices.
The administration endorsed an alternative by Republican Sens. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Pat Roberts of Kansas that generally provides lower subsidies and new farmer savings accounts, allowing farmers to bank profits for lean years.
Alisa Harrison, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Friday that the administration was likely to continue backing the GOP alternative.
Harkin said his conservation spending would double that of the last farm bill passed in 1996. He also predicted farmers would find that very attractive.
"They'll go down to the elevator or they'll go to the co-op and go to the coffeeshop and they'll sit around and say, 'Got a check from the government for $ 28,000.' 'Really, for what?' (someone will say) 'Not much. I did this, this and this.'"
Harkin's conservation proposal, which he'll add when the Senate returns to debating farm legislation on Tuesday, would increase the numbers of acreage farmers could use to qualify for payments under the Conservation Reserve Program, boost payments for wetlands, water quality and wildlife protection and add payments to ranchers for protecting fragile grasslands.
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