2002
Farm Bill
The
2002 Farm Bill is not perfect. If this farm bill contained
all of the initiatives I helped include in the Senate-passed bill,
it could have been more beneficial to South Dakota agriculture.
Overall, it was a modest step in the right direction. I
don’t anticipate we’ll see another farm bill before
2008. However, there are several initiatives I will continue
to work on before that time.
I
was very pleased that, under the 2002 Farm Bill, conservation programs
would experience the most significant amount of funding ever in
a farm bill, an 80 % increase over current levels. Program
implementation is crucial, and I will continue to pay close attention
to this process. At this point in time, substantial budget
deficits present challenges in obtaining funding not only for conservation
programs, but for Farm Bill programs in general.
Unfortunately,
the farm bill didn’t include my “Johnson Amendment”
to ban packer ownership of livestock. Packer ownership is
an important issue for South Dakotan producers. I will continue
to represent our farmers and ranchers in the face of market concentration
and vertical integration.
We
must ensure that farm program payments are targeted to family farmers,
and that South Dakota producers get their fair share. I cosponsored
an amendment in the Senate, which imposed common-sense $275,000
per-couple limitations on farm program payments. However, the House
of Representatives insisted on changes that significantly weakened
payment limitations.
The
Farm Bill contained language from S. 280, the Consumer Right-to-Know
Act, legislation I sponsored to require country-of-origin
labeling (COOL) for beef, lamb, pork, fruits, vegetables, fish,
and peanuts. Country-of-origin labeling should be implemented for
all products in a timely fashion, not only for the fish producers,
whose special interests were represented during closed-door consideration
of the 2004 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. This bill contained language
to delay the mandatory date of implementation for all other covered
commodities to September 30, 2006. My first meat labeling
bill was introduced in the House of Representatives twelve years
ago, in 1992.
I
will persist in working to speed up implementation of this invaluable
and effective law with my colleagues. I, along with former
Senator Daschle, introduced a bill in May 2004 to reinstate the
original mandatory date of implementation for COOL. Consumers
and producers overwhelmingly support COOL, and it’s time to
see this program come to fruition.
Click
on the links below to learn more about the Farm Bill:
http://www.usda.gov/farmbill2002/
http://www.ers.usda.gov/features/farmbill/
http://www.congress.gov/erp/rs/html/RS22131.html
RS22131: The 'Farm Bill' in Brief (March 22, 2006)
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