Stabenow Wants to Move Quickly, but Methodically on New Farm Bill

by Jerry Hagstrom (AgWeek) Senate Agriculture Commitee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., says the Senate will proceed on its own schedule on the farm bill and should finish the bill as quickly as possible, but she will not promise to finish the bill in 2012.
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Stabenow announced March 25 that the first farm bill field hearing will be April 9 at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Lucas has said the bill should be finished in 2012, but also has said he intends to use 2011 to hold oversight hearings on federal agencies and to educate the many freshmen member of his committee about agriculture.
In the interview, Stabenow discussed her relationship with agriculture since she was a child and said the farm bill should:
n Re-examine the direct payments program to establish the committee’s credibility in a tight budget period.
n Expand crop insurance to cover more crops.
n Continue the sugar program.
n Use the National Milk Producers Federation’s “Foundation for the Future” proposal as the starting point for changing the dairy program.
n Continue the specialty crops program from the 2008 farm bill.
...She reaffirmed her commitment to ethanol, but said support for renewable fuels may need to be changed.
Excerpts from interview:
...I told all of our leaders in agriculture, we’ve got to start from the basis of not defending individual programs, but what are our principles, what are our goals, how do we make sure we have the best safety net possible for production of agriculture, how do we make sure that we are providing the best tools to manage risk?
...Our job is to remind our colleagues in the House and the Senate of that and the importance to our national security of producing our food and fiber products here in America and the important role of agriculture internationally, when we’ve got 7 billion mouths to feed around the world.
...I’m in a fortunate situation not only having an extremely experienced ranking member — Pat Roberts and I work together extremely well and we’re doing this as a partnership — but (also) many former chairmen and experienced people. Both Democrat and Republican. So we’re in a very different position from the House.
...(There is) a lot of misinformation about what goes out in terms of farm subsidies and farm payments, so we’ve got some educating to do with colleagues as well. But we also have to be willing to step up and make some changes if we’re going to be credible.
...I have been a big supporter of ethanol. We’ve seen the industry mature, and I think now we need to listen to what should come next, again, in the context of budget and deficits, in the context of what’s needed today. A lot of the leaders around ethanol are asking us to look at infrastructure, making sure that the pumps are there, making sure that the pipes are there, the ability to move ethanol and asking us to change what we are doing rather than looking at the ethanol (tax) credit. I think we need to explore.
Q. What about the complaints from the animal producers that the cost of feed has gone up? How do you address that?
A. I appreciate and understand that. I think we’ve got to explore that. Certainly, we understand, and I think as the ethanol production has gotten more sophisticated, that means they’re addressing that in a number of ways.
I’m certainly sensitive to input cost, but I think this is a very important part of our alternative fuel opportunities, and so it’s a balance. It’s really a balance. When we look at what’s happening around the world and our dependence on foreign oil and the fact that, frankly, if you took imports of oil out of our balance of payments, we would not have a deficit right now.
So I think agriculture, not just ethanol, but biodiesel, other advanced biofuels are an important part of our country’s solution to having American-made energy. READ MORE