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Agri-Pulse: Senate Agriculture Committee makes progress on new farm billBy Sara Wyant, Agri-Pulse Editor Amendments considered on first four titles, six more to go The Senate Agriculture Committee completed work on the first four titles of the new Food and Energy Security Act of 2007 on Wednesday with most of Chairman Harkin's carefully crafted "mark" still intact, despite some healthy debates over the Average Crop Revenue (ACR) option and whether or not direct payments to farmers should be shaved to provide more federal assistance for hungry people. These discussions are expected to continue at 9 a.m. (EDT) Thursday morning when the committee resumes work on the remaining titles and revisits some of these same issues. The committee approved only seven amendments, on Wednesday, but one of them was an "en bloc" amendment that packaged over 30 different technical changes or additions to the Chairman's mark. One of the most significant "en bloc" changes would prohibit packers from owning livestock for more than 14 days before slaughter. Under the proposed amendment to the Packers and Stockyards Act, packers could not, "own or feed livestock directly, through a subsidiary, or through an arrangement that gives the packer operational, managerial, or supervisory control over the livestock, or over the farming operation that produces the livestock." Other approved amendments include: o An amendment by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Bob Casey (D-PA) that will require USDA to collect and publish daily prices on all dairy products. Small processors would be exempt. o An amendment by Sen. Casey (D-PA) that would require USDA to consider using the most recent monthly feed and fuel cost data when determining make allowances under marketing orders. o An amendment by Senators John Thune (R-SD), Max Baucus (D-MT), Ben Nelson (D- NE) and Ken Salazar (D-CO) that would prohibit USDA from closing a new category of office, dubbed "Critical Access Offices" of the Farm Service Agency (FSA), during implementation of the 2007 farm bill. Other offices would still be allowed to close under this amendment, with the approval of Congress. o An amendment by Sen. Thune (R-SD) to strike new language in the Chairman's mark that would have required USDA to establish procedures to determine a date on which producers with a commodity loan lose "beneficial interest." o An amendment from Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) to maintain the existing payment limitation in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) at $450,000, rather than the $240,000 level established in the Chairman's mark. o An amendment by Sen. Nelson (D-NE) to ensure that any re-rating of crop insurance that would be required under the Average Crop Revenue (ACR) program be actuarially sound. It would require the Administrator of the USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) to use the services of a board-certified consulting actuary. All of the approved amendments are now posted on the committee's web site at www.agriculture.senate.gov © Copyright Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or distribution in any form is prohibited without consent from Editor Sara Wyant, Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc. 5N985 Rt. #31, St. Charles, IL. 60175. Phone: (630) 443-3257. Fax: (630) 443-3258. A one-year subscription rate (48 issues) is $397.00. To subscribe, send an e-mail to: Agripulse@aol.com or visit: www.Agri- Pulse.com. Editor's note: For more stories and a free, four-week trial subscription, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com.
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