Farming and Your Freedom

When Mike Johanns rode into Washington in January, fresh from the hinterlands and with the good wishes of farmers everywhere, he looked to be tall in the saddle. Now, out in the woods (or woodshed) defending President Bush's ag budget, which features cut after cut, Johanns has a wary eye out for ambush.

News in recent days has painted a dismal picture of prospects for most rural programs in Bush's newest budget, particularly development programs that have been helping rebuild rural America in the wake of the mass exodus off the farm (and out of town) in the past two decades.

The ag budget fares no better, and it is now Johanns' job to try to explain that to rural folks out in Red America, a rather large area of the country that voted for the president with the idea that he understood from whence they came.

The USDA put the usual spin on the budget when Johanns announced it, Feb. 8: "The President's agriculture budget is fiscally responsible, ensures a strong safety net for farmers and ranchers and increases resources to help those in need. The agriculture budget provides funds to protect America's food supply and agriculture systems, improve nutrition and health, conserve and enhance our natural resources and enhance economic opportunities for agricultural producers." The take out here? Look, out below!

The reality of the thing is that the Bush budget proposes a freeze on ag spending, along with money for veterans and for scientific research, while slashing dozens of programs across the board. It will be the job of the Congress to decide just how far Bush goes with his slash and burn tactics. That's why they call it checks and balances--even if they are all of one party (powerwise) these days.

The nation's commodity organizations are girding up for the fight and they have let it be known they don't think the Bush ag budgeting is fair and is a retreat from the 2002 Farm Bill provisions. They particularly find displeasure in the idea of cutting loan deficiency payments (LDPs) and marketing loan gains for corn producers by 40 percent!

According to Dan Looker of @griculture Online, the presidents of both of the major commodity groups, the National Corn Growers and the American Soybean Association said last week that their organizations oppose changing the Farm Bill, and that changes proposed put an unfair burden on U.S. agriculture.

Looker said Leon Corzine of the NCGA, an Illinois farmer, said he is "excited to have an ag secretary with a farming background...many farm families have made business plans based on the feeling that the 2002 Farm Bill is a contract with farmers that will last through 2007." That brings to my mind the old saw, "contracts are made to be broken."

The earlier proposal to cap farm program payments at $250,000 and cut five percent in payments are not the biggest issues, according to Corzine. He said the Bush LDP plan and marketing gain proposal would mean a farmer would no longer be paid for every bushel of corn harvested. In his case, Corzine said, the program payments would be based on 150 bushels per acre instead of the current 200 for the 2004 harvest.

In addition, the NCGA estimates that 40 percent of the 2004 U.S. corn crop would not have been eligible for LDPs or marketing loan gains if the proposal had been in effect.

The soybean association is still looking at the proposals and isn't sure how the cut in LDPs would affect soybeans, but they too would see cuts in bushels-per-acre calculations. Hunker down is the watchword--or phrase in '05.

The Bush administration is planning to further anger Red State supporters with proposed cuts in rural development programs, the kind of small business-oriented aids that have helped rural communities handle the rapid changes in farming and the continued loss of actual humans from the cropping and livestock production processes.

The leg-up these federal programs provided will be sorely missed and create a long-term political liability for the Republicans. Congress is not unaware of that, even if the White House has a blind eye.

As spring rushes headlong into farm country, the goings on in Beltway Budget Land will surely be interesting and vexing for the beholder.

I'll see ya!