Obey Says Secretary of Agriculture May be Losing Sight of the Purpose of the Farm Bill

OBEY SAYS SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE MAY BE LOSING SIGHT OF THE PURPOSE OF THE FARM BILL

Complains of Deafening Silence from Administration on MILC Payment Program

Congressman Dave Obey (D-WI) said today that he was concerned that a recent statement from U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns indicates that the Administration has lost sight of the purpose of federal farm programs.

"Yesterday, Secretary Johanns announced the first forum to seek input from America's farmers and ranchers regarding development of the 2007 Farm Bill. That forum is scheduled for July 7 in Nashville, Tennessee. In a statement accompanying the announcement Secretary Johanns identified six topics that he intends will provide a framework for this and subsequent forums. Those topics are all important considerations addressing, for example, competitiveness, new farmers, distribution and availability of assistance to farmers and rural areas, conservation, marketing and research.

"However, these priorities also suggest that the Secretary may have lost sight of the original purpose of federal farm programs which was to ensure the orderly marketing of commodities so that the American people had a safe and reliable supply of nutritious food and fiber while providing farmers with a fair return on their labor and their product. Those goals, under both Democratic and Republican governments, served this country well for 50 years, helping reduce hunger, improving the health of American families, and keeping farmers on the land. Unfortunately, there is no reference in the Secretary's statement to these goals. Instead, reflecting this Administration's ideologically rigid commitment to globalism, the Secretary makes his number one priority designing a farm policy that will maximize U.S. competitiveness in global markets.

"Frankly, if competitiveness in global markets is the highest priority, then farmers are unlikely to get any relief from low prices and the nutritional needs of Americans become of secondary importance. Any farm policy must include among its highest priorities ensuring farmers with a decent return and combating hunger and nutritional deficiencies among the American people."

Obey said he thought it was also a mistake to fail to include any reference to ensuring a safe supply of farm products. "Globalism has brought with it a host of new and old disease problems from foot and mouth to Mad Cow to Soybean Rust to Bird Flu. Any new Farm Bill must be cognizant of the growing threat of disease and exotic pests and to fail to include this as a priority is a serious oversight."

Finally, Obey said he has been disappointed with the "deafening silence" from the Bush Administration on the question of extension of the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program which is due to expire by October of this year.

"The MILC program has become an essential element of the dairy price safety net, pumping more than $400 million into Wisconsin's farm economy at a time of record low prices in 2002 and 2003. However, a major failure of the last farm bill was to shortchange dairy with a partial program. While other commodity programs were authorized through September 2007, dairy's MILC program expires two years early.

"During the election campaign, the President came to Wausau and Eau Claire to say he looked forward to working with Congress to extend the MILC program. To his credit, the President did include an extension in his February budget proposal but he paid for it with massive cuts in other commodity programs that, frankly, the congressional agriculture committees are unlikely to approve. If MILC extension is to win approval from the Republican Congress, we need an aggressive campaign by the Administration. Unfortunately, since the election we've heard virtually nothing from either the Administration or the Secretary of Agriculture on the matter. That has to change."

Obey urged Wisconsin farmers to contact USDA about the need to extend MILC and to reaffirm that the orderly marketing of commodities, a safe and reliable supply of food and fiber for consumers, and decent prices for farmers remain as priorities for the next Farm Bill.

http://obey.house.gov/HoR/WI07/Newsroom/Press+Releases/OBEY+SAYS+SECRETARY+OF+AGRICULTURE+MAY+BE+LOSING+SIGHT+OF+THE+PURPOSE+OF+THE+FARM+BILL.htm