Senate votes on farm bill
that may alleviate
burden
By Heather Mangold
City
Editor
With market prices reaching all-time lows, Hoosier
farmers are looking for some kind of relief from Indiana government
leaders, but exactly what that help will do is still unclear.
Today the Indiana Senate will vote on a farm bill
that could determine the degree of assistance the government will provide
for Indiana farms.
Tippecanoe County farmer Alan Kemper said he's
anticipating the decision.
"I think farmers, like in any business, like to
make sure there are programs in place. I guess as a producer, I would
like to see them get a farm bill signed yet this fall — a five
to seven year bill so we can go ahead and plan our future," he said.
Kemper said farmers want those government programs
to be oriented for markets.
"When we have not necessarily overproduction, but
a world economy that doesn't use all the supply, then they need some
kind of safety net," said Kemper.
A bill introduced by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.,
could have been this safety net.
Otto Doering, a professor of agricultural economics,
said the bill introduced by Lugar this fall would not have necessarily
given farmers more cash on hand, but rather would have given them vouchers
with which they could purchase insurance that would maintain their revenue.
"The government will help the farmer purchase this
gross revenue insurance which will ensure that the farmer gets at least
80 percent of the gross revenue that the farmer averaged over the past
five years," said Doering.
Kemper said that he supported Lugar's efforts to
support the safety net.
"I think there should be programs that are geared
toward farmers that are lessening the risk, but for their own insurance,"
said Kemper.
Because farm interests that are most active politically
want cash on the table, Lugar's bill was not passed out of the Indiana
Senate, said Doering.
"They want more money than the Lugar bill would
give them," he said. "The Lugar bill is a much less expensive bill."
The bill that the senate agricultural committee
has passed out, however, would distribute more money to farmers than
has ever been distributed in the past.
"Big farmers wouldn't get the same advantages that
they have today," he said.
In years past, the small family farms of America
have faced difficult times with depleting market prices. It has been
argued that much of the government funding that is to go to agriculture
is given mainly to large corporate farms, pushing small farms out of
business.
Doering said the bill that was introduced by Sen.
Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, would distribute government money more evenly, but
still would not provide great relief to smaller farms.
"It will give them a little bit more because everyone
gets more," said Doering. "But it will not deal with the basic concerns
that many people have about small farms."
Although the Lugar bill was not specifically aimed
at small farms, more farmers could benefit from government funding with
it, said Doering.
"It would involve truly farmers across the country,
number one who had never received any assistance before," he said. "But
it would not give as much to the very large farms."
Doering said the key thing to remember is that
small farms, in terms of policy, are more of a social issue rather than
a farm bill issue.
"Society as a whole has to decide whether it wants
to organize the programs in a way to preserve or encourage the small
farmer," he said.
After the Senate votes on the bill today, it will
go to conference with the bill that was passed by the Indiana House
of Representatives to reconcile differences between the two. Then government
leaders will be faced with the task of passing a farm bill that both
the Senate and House can agree on.
Doering said even though the Lugar bill is dead
he still favors it.
"For the long term of agriculture, I would vote
for the Lugar bill, which makes me very unpopular with farms, but I
think it is better for the long term health of agriculture," he said.
Doering said that in terms of short-term goals,
farmers would more likely stand up and vote for the bill that was passed
out of the Senate.
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