Money scarcer, US asks farm subsidy, overhaul ideas

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns opened the overhaul of US farm policy on Thursday with a warning - there will be less money for farm subsidies. "Every program in Washington is feeling budget pressures," Johanns said as he prepared for his first "farm bill forum," running four hours on satellite and cable television later on Thursday. "We are all facing budget issues."
Lawmakers also can expect some mighty tussles over the focus of the farm program, expected to cost $24 billion this year. Grain, oilseed and cotton growers get most of the money although they are a minority of the 2 million US farmers.
Environmentalists want the farm program to emphasise better care of land. Fruit and vegetable growers want a piece of the money pie. Either step would reduce traditional subsidies. Besides arguments about the focus of the farm program, lawmakers face the recurring question whether to rein in payments to large farms, who now collect 80 percent of the subsidies.
Beyond that, US subsidies may need remolding to comply with ongoing negotiations for freer agricultural trade. Some analysts say economic conditions, not lofty policy goals, dictate the outcome of the periodic updates of farm law.
Farm-state lawmakers are under orders by September 16 to cut Agriculture Department programs by $3 billion over five years. It was a turnabout from 2002, when President Bush signed the current law with its 67 percent boost in crop and dairy subsidies.
The law does not expire until late 2007. While some preliminary work may be done in coming months, lawmakers may wait until after the 2006 elections to do the hard work. "If you ask farmers what to do about it, they'll say leave it (current law) alone," said a House Agriculture Committee staff worker. "Voices for change, if that's what they are, are going to come from the outside."
Congressional staffers agreed there was no obvious successor to the 2002 law. With its addition of $6.4 billion a year in crop and dairy funding, it was regarded as a retreat from free-market reforms dating from 1985.
Johanns said he has no preconceptions about what should go into the 2007 farm bill. He described the townhall meetings as "the most important thing we can do" to get ready for the policy debate.