In Hawaii, Vilsack Talks Budget Cuts And Obama Administration Priorities For Farm Bill

The Agriculture Secretary is worried about Congress reaching a consensus...
In Honolulu, Hawaii for the annual American Farm Bureau Federation convention, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on Sunday told delegates from Iowa that he is unwilling to predict if a new Farm Bill will either be written or passed in the year ahead. The Secretary said he is worried that Congress is unlikely to do so, due to pressure to cut more than $23 billion over the next 10 years, a figure that House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders agreed to last year, reports Jerry Hagstrom of the subscription-only The Hagstrom Report. (Above: Vilsack, right, discusses issues with young farmers and ranchers at the Iowa Farm Bureau breakfast in Hawaii on Sunday)

"First and foremost, there are going to be some challenges," Vilsack said. "There are going to be some challenges because we are faced with a very different fiscal situation in the country than we probably have ever faced in the context of the farm bill."

He added that “it’s hard to imagine this Congress reaching consensus” on the Farm Bill, but noted that the USDA “will do all we can to help them.”

Crucial federal nutrition programs are part of the Farm Bill, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also called Food Stamps), which hit record levels of participation and spending in 2011, with more than 46.2 million Americans receiving benefits in October of 2011, the last month for which USDA posted data. The current Farm Bill contains 15 titles covering support for commodity crops, horticulture, livestock, conservation, nutrition, trade and food aid, agricultural research, farm credit, rural development, energy, forestry, and other related programs. In the current era of belt tightening, many programs face cuts.

Reports Hagstrom:

"Vilsack, a former Democratic governor of Iowa, told the Iowa Farm Bureau that it is important to support the military spending cuts included in the law passed last year, which allowed an increase in the debt ceiling but also established automatic defense and domestic spending cuts totaling $1.5 trillion over 10 years, which are to go into effect in 2013.

The military portion of that cut is $487 billion, but some Republicans and a few Democrats have said that it is too big a cut to the military.

Vilsack warned that if Congress changes that figure, it “will affect everything else.” Under those circumstances, he added, the cut in agriculture spending could rise to the $33 billion the Obama administration had proposed at one point or the $48 billion ag spending cut that the House had made in the budget it passed."

Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman addressed the convention and expressed similar doubts about a new Farm Bill, Hagstrom noted. Stallman said he believed the cuts to the budget will be higher than $23 billion.

Stallman "said the atmosphere surrounding the farm bill debate is affected by the fact that agriculture has been an economic bright spot while problems in the larger economy have led many people to need assistance through the supplemental nutrition assistance program or SNAP, previously known as food stamps," Hagstrom reported.

"Stallman appealed to the delegates at the convention to give him and the board “clear direction” in telling Congress what Farm Bureau members want in the next bill."

Vilsack is scheduled to address the convention today, and will again discuss the Farm Bill.

*Photo by Rebecca J. Moat/USDA