Cotton’s Keepers
August 20, 2009 Talk of reopening and revising the 2008 Farm Bill has come early and often since President Barack Obama took office in January. As legislators on Capitol Hill and in the White House wrangle to balance the budget while dealing with a reeling economy, many can’t seem to resist slicing away at the Farm Bill.
A June release from the National Cotton Council outlined what the group calls the three most contentious policies of Obama’s proposed budget cuts; namely that the president’s revisions would place a cap on total farm program benefits, set up a new eligibility test based on gross revenue and eliminate cotton storage credits. Mercifully, the NCC isn’t alone in its efforts to protect cotton producers. There are some on Capitol Hill who argue that production agriculture already gave up all it could during the 18 months the Farm Bill was under construction in Congress.
Further, there are some who believe the new administration should already know as much.
“You can be certain that I continue to remind President Obama that he voted for this Farm Bill,” says U. S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). “And it’s important for him as well as his Secretary and the rest of us to keep implementing and regulating that bill as he intended.”
Lincoln is one of the most outspoken of the Farm Bill defenders on Capitol Hill. Along with Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), Lincoln helped author an immediate response to the initial proposed budget cuts in March, strongly opposing agriculture budget reductions. As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, she has been in the thick of the budget debate as it relates to production agriculture ever since.
Lincoln is quick to point out that less than 10% of the Farm Bill’s spending actually goes to production agriculture. Factoring in conservation brings that number up to 16%. The vast majority of the bill’s spending is used for nutrition, and the entire bill makes up for less than one half of one percent of the nation’s entire budget. Facts like these, says Lincoln, could go a long way towards educating Farm Bill critics in Washington.
“It’s not a glamorous issue, and a lot of our colleagues don’t like to talk about it. It’s complicated and they don’t like to have to spend the time to understand it. So it’s critical for us to be able to be that voice, and to make sure that we’re talking about agriculture and the really positive things that it does for our country,” says Lincoln.
Farm Raised
Lincoln has first-hand knowledge of the challenges growers face every day. The Helena, AR, native comes from a seventh generation farm family.
“Having grown up as a farmer’s daughter, I can remember that it was always too wet or too dry. You don’t have any control over that,” Lincoln says. “So it’s critical to understand the unpredictability of agriculture and to make sure that Washington understands that as well.”
Lincoln made history in 1998 when, at age 38, she became the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate. She quickly got involved on Capitol Hill, where her service includes work on the Finance Committee, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Senate Special Committee on Aging. After becoming involved with the Agriculture Committee, Lincoln was named Chair of the Subcommittee on Rural Revitalization, Conservation, Forestry and Credit.
“I am in the thick of it, which is where I want to be,” Lincoln says.
Protecting Payments
It’s through her work on the Agriculture Committee that Lincoln is able to defend the 2008 Farm Bill. The self-described “Steel Magnolia” has already seen her efforts pay off in defending agricultural interests this year. Lincoln cites Mississippi Republican Senators Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran as allies in a successful campaign to overturn a Farm Bill provision left over from the Bush administration that eliminated farm support payments on Federal land. Though the Senators were able to cross party lines and overcome White House hurdles to repeal that measure, Lincoln understands that the work to protect the Farm Bill is far from over.
The Senator agrees with the opinion of the NCC that one of the greatest threats of the Obama administration’s proposed revisions is the creation of a means test for farmers based on income. Lincoln and others in her committee are working to ensure that adjusted growth income and payment levels reflect the realities of farming- things like skyrocketing production costs and restrictive trade rules that farmers contend with every year.
The Senator is also joining in efforts to avoid the unintended consequences of establishing payment limits at adjusted growth income levels that would, she says, “have the effect of…shifting the landlord-tenant relationship to cash rent, effectively placing production risks solely on the producer.”
In its June press release, the NCC warned that many of the Obama administration’s proposed revisions to the Farm Bill could hinder the competitiveness of the industry at a time when U.S. cotton is most vulnerable. Lincoln, too, worries about the timing of these provisions, though she is concerned with the opportunities that could be lost in the near future, citing a population boom worldwide over the next 20 years.
“(Population increases) deeply reflect the production agriculture we need to be able to feed those people. To lose that opportunity here in the U.S., to be able to be the provider of the most efficient and effective production possible, would be just crazy,” she says.
The Senator’s message is simple: leave well enough alone. The Farm Bill, she argues, underwent more than enough revisions during the long period of time it was debated on the Congressional floor. The end result was a true compromise that everyone could be satisfied with.
“The Farm Bill is a contract that our Federal Government has made with producers to provide them with a safety net,” Lincoln says. “Changing the rules of the game before the bill is fully implemented is not fair to those producers or to the institutions that provide the capitol they need to operate such a risky business in this economic environment.”
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