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Grassley bringing commodity title experience to Focus on Farm Policy
Iowa senator remains adamant in support of farm payment limits
By Jeff Caldwell
A conversation about farm policy rarely goes by today without some mention of payment limits. And, it's virtually impossible to carry on a conversation about farm payment limits without speaking his name.
Yet Sen. Charles Grassley, R-IA, whose efforts to implement tighter limits on commodity payments have been well known for many years, has yet to see his bump in payment limits become reality.
How will the ongoing fight for payment limits that some have characterized as the new "North v. South," be etched into the U.S. farm policy landscape? Answers will be provided at Focus on Farm Policy: How the next farm bill will affect your bottom line, Feb. 24 to 25 at the Gateway Center in Ames, Iowa. Grassley is an invited guest and will head up a commodity policy panel discussion during the two-day event at which representatives from all sectors of Midwest production agriculture, from conservation to livestock and renewable fuels, will gather to discuss factors weighing on the 2007 farm bill.
The goal of the conference, sponsored by the Iowa Soybean Association, will be for attendees to walk away with a balanced, thorough understanding of the federal policy that will affect their livelihood in agriculture. Focus on Farm Policy will be presented by Newsradio 1040 WHO, Agri-Pulse and the Midwest Ag Journal. For more information or to register, go online to www.midwestagjournal.com/farmbill or contact Cathy Erickson at WHO Radio by phone at 515-245-8842 or by e-mail at cathyerickson@clearchannel.com.
Commodity policy
recent history
Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and member of the budget and agriculture committees, is no stranger to commodity policy. He was one of the primary architects of the commodity title of the 2002 farm bill, in which he proposed caps of $75,000 for marketing loan payments and $40,000 for fixed payments. Today, these limits are reflected specifically as $75,000 for loan deficiency payments (LDPs) and $40,000 for countercyclical payments (CCPs).
Yet, Grassley has remained active in congressional discussions surrounding payment limits. Late last year, he proposed lower limits amounting to $250,000 per married farm couple. In proposing these limits, Grassley said in early November the limits were crucial to maintaining a favorable view of agriculture by urban lawmakers, especially because of cuts in federal funding in general.
"We need to correct the track we're currently on and modify our farm payments before we completely erode the urban support for the farm program," he said Nov. 2 of last year. "Farm program payments were designed to help small and medium-sized farmers get through the rough spots. They were not designed to help the big get bigger at the expense of the taxpayer."
The U.S. Senate's
only family farmer
Grassley, a native of New Hartford, is no stranger to production agriculture himself. And, a farm "safety net" is nothing new to Grassley, as he had a safety net of his own as a young farmer starting out in the 1950s. He worked off the farm as a sheet metal shearer and on an assembly line to supplement farm income.
Today, Grassley's son Robin, one of five children the senator raised with wife Barbara, currently operates the family farm while his father is at work in Washington, DC. Grassley's tenure in the U.S. Senate, which was preceded by terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and Iowa Legislature, has been paced each year since 1980 by travel to each of Iowa's 99 counties.
Known as a "workhorse, not a show horse," the Iowa senior senator has served on, in addition to the Senate ag committee, judiciary, budget, tax and finance committees and has chaired the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control. Specific to agriculture, Grassley has been involved with the Iowa Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, National Grain and Feed Association, National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa Farm Bureau and National Pork Producers Council.
Jeff Caldwell can be reached by phone at 515-280-5405 or by e-mail at jcaldwell@mchsi.com. For more information or to register for Focus on Farm Policy, go online to www.midwestagjournal.com/farmbill or call Cathy Erickson at WHO Radio at 515-245-8842 or Kristen Andrews at the Midwest Ag Journal/High Plains Journal at 620-227-1885.
Date:1/25/06
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