There is no way Congress can get around debate over formation and adoption of the 2007 Farm Bill, since they have the authority to create such legislation. So following in U.S.D.A.'s footsteps last year, Agriculture Committees from both sides of Congress have field hearings scheduled through much of this year to gather public input in how the next Farm Bill should be crafted. The House Ag Committee recently held their first two hearings in southeastern states. The Senate Ag Committee will soon follow suit. So how will the debate in Congress shape up? Jim Wiesemeyer has covered the Washington D.C. beat as a farm journalist for years. And he says the driver of how the Farm Bill will shape up is the head of the Senate Ag Committee, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.
WIESEMEYER: Senator Chambliss is the Larry Combast of this Farm Bill. Clearly, he's got the strategy already. He learned from the right-hand of Larry Combast when he was over on the House side during the 2002 Farm Bill debate. He'll have his field hearings on the Senate Ag Committee, either middle of the way through the House or later on. He'll know that you have to have enough votes to get any bill passed. And he knows that you have to bring in the cotton and the rice, along with not hurting production ag.
So what happened to specialty crops getting an expanded focus in the next Farm Bill? Chambliss has said publicly he does favor more programs and resources for specialty crops. Wiesemeyer says one other factor to keep in mind is Congress could choose not to write a new Farm Bill, but expand the existing policy. Whether or not Congress goes that route depends on the progress made in the current World Trade Organization global ag trade reform talks between now and next year.
WIESEMEYER: More people from Washington never say "They don't know". But I'm one of the ones who say "I don't know" simply because I want to watch the timeline of the Doha Round. And I do think that farm state lawmakers will not want to write that Farm Bill twice. So if that Doha Round goes much longer than the spring of 07, then I would up the odds for an extension. Now the Administration definitely does not want an extension.
Wiesemeyer says part of the debate will center on what each commodity group, whether production ag or specialty crop, wants in a Farm Bill. And he believes like past Farm Bill efforts, various commodity groups will try to form coalitions to have a stronger voice in the debate. In Weisemeyer's opinion, like the past, there are too many differences between commodity groups to pull off an effective coalition.
