Budget Drops Extension of Farm Subsidies

Congressional leaders refused to extend the life of most farm subsidies until 2011 in the Deficit Reduction bill.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) led efforts to extend most farm subsidy programs until 2011. But, the House Agriculture Committee and the White House opposed an extension.

Under current law, farm and food programs must be renewed in 2007.

“Extending most farm subsidies but allowing other food and farm programs to expire in 2007 would have been bad for farmer, bad for trade and bad for the environment,” said Scott Faber of Environmental Defense.

Faber praised House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and House Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL) as well as Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who led Senate efforts to oppose the extension. Faber also praised the White House, which also opposed the extension.

“But for the leadership of the White House, Speaker Hastert and Chairman Goodlatte, farmers would have been forced to wait five years for the chance to reform farm programs to help more farmers and the environment,” Faber said. “More than 90% of America’s farmers receive little or nothing from current subsidy programs because of the crops they grow. Renewing farm programs in 2007 creates a chance to reform farm programs to reinvest in rural America.”

Extending most subsidy programs until 2011 would have also hindered efforts to reach a global trade deal to open overseas markets to our farm exports. In addition, extending trade-distorting subsidy programs until 2011 would have invited more retaliatory tariffs on all American exports, including farm exports.

Extending subsidy programs until 2011 – but allowing most conservation, rural development, and nutrition programs to expire in 2007 – would have placed many important programs in limbo, including programs that restore wetlands, grasslands and other wildlife habitat and that help protect farmland and ranchland from sprawl.

The deficit reduction bill made disproportionately deep cuts to conservation programs, said Faber, including a promising new “green payments” program that links payments to environmental performance. But, the bill does not reduce the number of acres that can be enrolled into the Conservation Reserve Program, as the Senate had proposed.

Environmental Defense is a leading national nonprofit organization representing more than 400,000 members. Since 1967, Environmental Defense has linked science, economics, law and innovative private-sector partnerships to create breakthrough solutions to the most serious environmental problems. We dedicate ourselves to protecting the environmental rights of all people, including the right to clean air, clean water, healthy food and flourishing ecosystems. Guided by science, we work to create practical solutions that win lasting political, economic and social support because they are nonpartisan, cost-effective and fair.