Washington, DC
April 29, 2002
The National
Corn Growers Association
(NCGA) pressed hard for a stronger counter-cyclical program to
be the centerpiece of a new farm safety net and its work was
rewarded. Seventy-two days following passage of the Senate farm
bill, the House and Senate Conferees have finally come to an
agreement that will shape the nation's farm policy for the next
six years.
NCGA President Tim Hume said, "We have to give a great deal of
credit to Congressmen Larry Combest (R-Texas) and Charles
Stenholm (D-Texas) for their leadership this past two and a half
years, to Congress for expediting the process, and to staff who
have worked long and hard to bring this farm bill agreement to
fruition."
In early April, a significant breakthrough occurred when the
House Conferees embraced the Senate's concept of updating yields
in the counter- cyclical payment that recognizes the
considerable changes in crop production since the mid 1980s.
Conventional wisdom just weeks ago suggested the final farm bill
would not include a yield update for the counter-cyclical
program. Subsequent modifications in the yield update provision
have helped to ensure more equitable treatment of producers
between various regions and commodities.
NCGA also has backed the House bill's continuation of level,
decoupled fixed payments and a marketing loan program that
minimizes government influence on planting decisions. In the
end, House and Senate conferees struck a compromise on the
Commodity Title with significant increases in marketing loan
rates that are reduced after the first two years. The corn loan
rate will rise to $1.98/bu and decline to $1.95/bu, a change
that will simultaneously up the counter-cyclical program's
payment rate. Target prices for the counter-cyclical program
will be confirmed following a scoring of the bill's costs by the
Congressional Budget Office.
In another significant farm policy shift, the conferees agreed
to more restrictive payment limitations: $40,000 on fixed
payments, $65,000 on the counter-cyclical program, and $75,000
for combined loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains.
The three-entity rule and generic certificates would remain in
place. House-Senate conferees settled on a total payment cap of
$360,000, a sharp reduction from current levels.
"Under the payment limit provisions, it was critical that the
certificate program was retained," said Hume, a corn grower in
Walsh, Colo. "With the counter-cyclical program, we can expect
far more producers to be impacted by payment limits."
In a significant move, conservation title funding will increase
close to 80 percent, including substantial increases for the
environmental quality incentive program and Sen. Tom Harkin's
(D-Iowa) new conservation security program.
The National Corn Growers Association mission is to create
and increase opportunities for corn growers in a changing world
and to enhance corn's profitability and usage. NCGA represents
more than 32,000 members, 25 affiliated state corn grower
organizations and hundreds of thousands of growers who
contribute to state checkoff programs.
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