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For years I have been saying that the farm bill should be called “the Food and Fuel Security Act” because in addition to covering food production it also covers the production of renewable energy such as ethanol and bio fuels.
As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I was extremely pleased to see that my suggestion was taken seriously when the new bill came out with the title, “the Food and Energy Security Act”. That’s close to my original suggestion and I wholeheartedly endorse it because it accurately portrays the bill’s changing nature while significantly raising the profile of the farmers’ contribution to America’s battle for energy independence.
This bill really does deal with both food and energy security. The support provided for producers will not only feed our nation, but help further develop domestically produced renewable fuel.
Of particular importance to me, it contains provisions that mirror legislation I introduced earlier this year with Senator John Thune to promote advanced biofuels or cellulosic biofuels. We have come a long way with corn which will continue to play a major role in our energy future, but we will also soon be able to further diversify our energy portfolio through other types of biofuels.
Sticking with the theme of food and energy security, the bill contains provisions to encourage the production of energy from animal and other organic wastes, which I’ve been working on through efforts such as my biogas bill. The bill contains loan guarantees and other assistance for facilities to re-power with biogas and other renewable fuels and I anticipate that it will help encourage more facilities like the E3 ethanol plant in Mead that is powered by biogas from a cattle feedlot.
The bill encourages the growth of hard white wheat production by continuing the development program that provides incentive payments to producers as a way to help establish hard white wheat as a viable class of wheat in the U.S.
The bill also gets into the rural economy. It contains a Rural Microenterprise Assistance Program with authorized funding similar to legislation I introduced to provide grants and assistance to new small businesses in rural areas.
The National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln gets a boost in the bill as it authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into a contract with UNL to collaborate on efforts to monitor and mitigate drought.
The bill also ensures that payments go to producers and not non farmers by closing a loophole that allowed payments to go to owners of former farm land that was subdivided into multiple residential units and is no longer used for farming. The language is similar to a bill I introduced earlier with Senator Salazar of Colorado.
I was disappointed that the legislation didn’t contain a strong payment limitation provision. Senators Grassley and Dorgan have stated that they will propose a floor amendment to cap payments at $250,000. This is something I have supported in the past and something I will support again.
I believe we need a farm bill that provides a strong safety net for producers -- including necessary reforms such as payment caps to make sure the government isn’t subsidizing large corporate farms - that also recognizes the growing importance of renewable fuels, provides sound assistance to rural communities and provides for permanent disaster assistance.
I have been working with the committee to make sure these priorities are included and I’m looking forward to passing the final results of all of our work in the Food and Energy Security Act of 2007.
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