Peterson Prepares to Draft 2012 Farm Bill

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) last week began discussing elements of a new farm bill, a process that is expected to play out over the next 18 months. Many long-time Washington observers believe the next farm legislation could be significantly different from that of the recent past for a wide range of reasons.
The week of April 26, Peterson said his panel would hear from experts and academics on "the broad picture" of where they perceive the current bill is working or not working, and trends they see for the future." The first week of May will feature field hearings in Des Moines, Boise, Fresno and Cheyenne, Wyo. The week of May 14 Peterson will hold hearings Georgia, Alabama, Texas and South Dakota.
The chairman says that at this point, everything is on the table, and that he is not advocating that policy go in any specific direction. Rather, he said, what he wants now if for a discussion about whether the current set of programs "make sense for the future." Peterson says his overall interest "is providing a safety net for the average-sized commercial production farmer."
One program likely is a candidate for change" the U.S. cotton program, given the recent agreement between the United States and Brazil that averted sanctions being imposed on a host of U.S. products. Peterson has said in the past that commodity programs that were structured to closely resemble each other may not work in the future. "Is it right to do it [the next farm bill] on a commodity-by-commodity basis? Or should we look at a whole-farm approach?" Peterson asked. "I've gotten some push back on that, but we at least should think about it."
Peterson acknowledged the budget will be a factor but said he is "not going to get too excited about it until we get to the point of marking up a bill." And, he expects the amount of money that will be available for farm programs –– based on Congressional Budget Office projections of baseline spending –– will be considerably different than it is at present.
Peterson would not say whether direct payments to farmers need to be reduced, saying instead that the various components of the economic safety net for farmers needs to be looked at as a whole to see how they work together.
Some have suggested that the current commodity loan programs could be ended or changed significantly and the dollars allocated for use elsewhere. Peterson said the problem with the current loan program is that loan rates are set at such low levels that the program does not function properly, "And the money isn't there to raise those rates significantly."