For six years, the Bush administration and environmental groups have been at loggerheads in Washington. But global warming and the need for renewable energy resources have now caused Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and veteran environmental lobbyists like Scott Faber of Environmental Defense to join forces to work for the “greenest” – and most economically rational – farm bill in U.S. history.
Farm bills have been the nation’s most consistent policy failure ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal tried to stabilize rural America in the 1930s by paying farmers to idle parts of their land. Conceived as an emergency measure, the tactic of paying farmers not to grow crops prompted public ridicule and ultimately did little to aid the small farmers it was supposed to help.
Assailing “six decades of failure,” Congress passed the Freedom to Farm Act of 1996, dropping the requirement that farmers idle acres in return for fixed cash payments. But a dip in farm prices a few years later prompted Congress to again hurl billions in subsidies without even asking for acreage reductions in return.
The Bush administration’s new plan seeks to end what is now seven decades of failure by reining in some of the giveaways while harnessing the power of American farmers to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. The heart of the Bush plan trades the failed commodity subsidies for a more reliable farm income maintenance system, coupled with a rural development program and an expanded food stamp program for needy Americans. The administration proposals also include advanced environmental policies, including:
Increasing funding by $7.8 billion over 10 years for the Conservation Reserve and creating a new Environmental Quality Incentives Program and a Regional Water Enhancement Program.
Increasing the Wetlands Reserve Program funding by $2.1 billion.
Providing $1.6 billion in new funding over five years for renewable energy research, development and production – targeted for cellulosic ethanol – on top of $2.1 billion in guaranteed loans for cellulosic projects.
It’s an ambitious agenda and one that offers special benefits to rural Colorado. We urge the state’s two members on the House Agriculture Committee, Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave and Democratic Rep. John Salazar, to continue the support they are already giving to these progressive reforms that will benefit Colorado farmers while protecting the state’s environment.
