Statement by Rodger Schlickeisen on Farm Bill Conference Agreement

(04/26/2002) - "The Farm Bill emerging from negotiations between the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives shortchanges independent farmers and conservation, opting instead for business as usual, feeding the insatiable maw of commodity programs. Instead of taking this opportunity to make real progress for the environment and family farmers, a wave of back-room deals will undermine conservation policy and funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to agribusiness giants at the expense of rural America.

"Instead of vision for the future, the conferees offer us bin-bursting surpluses of past failures. "It’s outrageous that all the high-flown talk of the importance of on-the-farm conservation work has in the end amounted to a hollow shell of the conservation budget that came out of the Senate. Rather than that clear commitment to the environment in that version of the bill, this conference agreement has the shameful distinction of shrinking conservation spending as a percentage of total farm spending. On top of this, the conference caved-in to the blandishments of huge agribusiness on issues like packer ownership of livestock and meaningful caps that would make sure the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and other programs worked for family farmers instead of large corporations.

"We are gratified that Senator Harkin’s Conservation Security Program – the single most innovative idea to promote real-world conservation results on America’s farms offered in this Farm Bill – seems to have come out of the conference with enough resources to make a real difference on the ground.

"But in general, this Farm Bill exhibits one of the worst possible Washington delusions, the belief that you can fix a fatally flawed policy by spending a whole lot more money doing what’s never worked before."

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