By: John Boozman,
While the crops and livestock of America’s
farmers and ranchers are suffering, the U.S. will continue to have the safest,
most affordable, most reliable food supply that the world has ever known
because of our agriculture safety net. Were it not for this safety net, many
family farms and agribusinesses would be unable to survive this historic
drought.
During our annual agriculture tour of
Arkansas last week, I saw the devastating impact of the drought on Natural
State agriculture producers. During a visit to the Livestock Auction in Conway,
Arkansas, I talked with ranchers who have been forced to liquidate their herds
due to the high cost of feed, or lack thereof.
The lasting effects will have a tremendous
influence on the bottom line of these ranchers and on the cost Americans
will pay for food at the grocery store.
Federal disaster programs that protect our
nation’s livestock producers expired at the end of 2011, leaving them
vulnerable to lack of hay and forage, high feed cost resulting from the
expected impact of the drought on grain yields, and lack of water to sustain
their herds and flocks. At the same time, most row croppers currently benefit
from subsidized crop insurance, direct payments, or counter-cyclical programs
that protect them from hard times.
While I was unable to support the Senate
passed Farm Bill due to regional inequities in the commodity programs, I was
pleased the bill included an extension of livestock disaster programs. I was
also pleased that the version of the Farm Bill passed by the House Agriculture
Committee included a similar extension of livestock disaster programs, but that
bill has yet to come to the House floor under regular order. (Related Link:
President Obama: Congress Needs to Pass Farm Bill.)
While a five-year Farm Bill provides the best
approach to helping our farmers and ranchers, there are still differences that
must be worked out between Republicans and Democrats in the House regarding how
to reform the Food Stamp program and achieve deficit reduction.
In the meantime, the House passed an
extension of the livestock disaster provisions prior to leaving for August
recess so that our livestock producers would know help is on the way.
Unfortunately, instead of bringing this non-controversial bill up for a vote in
the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid opted to use this opportunity to try and
force the House to act on a five-year extension of the Farm Bill.
There is no question that our farmers and
ranchers need the certainty of a five-year extension of the Farm Bill, but
Republicans and Democrats in Congress should work past the gridlock by doing
what they can for the American people, rather than laying this non-partisan
relief on the altar of what they want right now. House Agriculture Committee
Chairman Frank Lucas is working right now to gather the support to get a
five-year extension through the House, and Senate Chairman Debbie Stabenow
demonstrated tremendous leadership in shepherding her legislation through the
Senate. I am confident that their leadership will yield a five-year extension
that is equitable for all crops and regions prior to the end of this Congress,
but until that time Washington should do what it can to help our farmers and
ranchers immediately.
On July 24, 2012, several of my Senate
Agriculture Committee colleagues and I sent a letter to Secretary of
Agriculture Tom Vilsack urging him to use everything in his existing authority
to alleviate the impact of the drought, particularly on our livestock
producers.
I was pleased that President Obama and
Secretary Vilsack recently provided nearly $16 million in assistance through
the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Wildlife Habitat
Incentives Program (WHIP) and reprogrammed $14 million in unobligated funds to
the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP), which will assist in moving water to
livestock in need, providing emergency forage for livestock, and rehabilitating
lands severely impacted by the drought.
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