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WASHINGTON – Yesterday, a bill co-sponsored and strongly supported by local Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, unanimously passed in the House of Representatives. This bill, H.R. 6849, would suspend the provision that required agriculture producers to have a minimum of 10-base acres to receive program benefits.
"Congress never intended to shut out small producers when they made this rule, rather, they just wanted to insure that non-commercial farmers didn’t receive payments for their gardens," said Congresswoman Gillibrand. "If a dairy farmer grows corn feed on four small plots of land, they should be able aggregate that land and apply for benefits."
The US Department of Agriculture's misinterpreted the provision and was planning to deny farm program benefits to hundreds of thousands of producers nationwide by refusing to allow for the aggregation of small base acreage.
Congresswoman Gillibrand was a co-sponsor of the bill and worked with House leadership to ensure that this bill was passed before the end of the year so that the USDA would be provided with exact directions on how to proceed in implementing this program.
"This bill will ensure that farmers in Upstate receive the benefits they deserve whether they are big or small," said Congresswoman Gillibrand.
On June 30, the US Department of Agriculture published a notice stating their intent to "not approve requests for farm combination reconstitutions of farms having base acres of 10 acres or less," despite Farm Bill report language stating that base acreages could be aggregated to allow for farm program eligibility if the sum of acres is over 10.
The cost of H.R. 6849 is fully offset with spending reductions in order to meet Paygo requirements.
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