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Sen.
Salazar: 2007 Farm Bill Opens a New Chapter for Rural America
WASHINGTON,
DC – On March 2, 2005, in his maiden speech on the floor of
the U.S. Senate, Senator Ken Salazar vowed to fight for the nation’s
rural communities, like those in the San Luis Valley, where his family
has farmed and ranched for five generations. He called these communities
a ‘Forgotten America’ because Washington, DC has for too long ignored
and neglected the priorities of farmers, ranchers, and rural families.
Today, Senator Salazar hailed
the Senate passage, by a vote of 79 to14, of the 2007 Farm Bill (The
Food and Energy Security Act), as a “new chapter” for the 50 million
Americans living in rural communities. The bill, which he and his colleagues
in the Senate Agriculture Committee have been working on for over three
years, makes much-needed investments in rural communities, will help
deliver safe and healthy food to family dinner tables, provide fresh
fruits and vegetables to kids at school, improve stewardship of the
nation’s land and water, and will reduce U.S. dependence on foreign
oil. The House of Representatives passed its own Farm Bill earlier this
year and the House and Senate will now work together to produce a final
version of the legislation.
“Today was an important
day for rural America and rural Colorado. In passing the 2007 Farm Bill,
we are one step closer to opening a new chapter of investment and opportunity
for rural America,” said Senator Salazar. “Nearly three years ago, in
my ‘maiden’ speech on the floor of the United States Senate, I called
attention to those rural communities across our country, like those
in my native San Luis Valley, that have been withering on the vine,
forgotten by the policies of Washington DC. Since then I have worked
tirelessly with farmers and ranchers from every corner of Colorado and
with my Senate colleagues to help write a Farm Bill that capitalizes
on the opportunities in rural America. The ingenuity, hard work, and
resources of rural communities are vital to ensuring a safe, healthy
food supply and to reducing our dependence on foreign oil. The 2007
Farm Bill is a tremendous accomplishment.”
Below is a summary of key
provisions in the 2007 Farm Bill that fall under 1) rural development,
2) protecting our land and water, 3) energy independence, 4) reform
and 5) and keeping Americans healthy.
Senator Salazar sponsored
or led all of the provisions listed below.
I. RURAL DEVELOPMENT:
For too long, Washington’s policies have overlooked the troubles that
are affecting small towns and rural communities across America. Rural
communities are losing population, jobs are hard to come by, and family
farmers and small business owners are struggling to make ends meet.
It is time that we make smart investments in our rural communities.
This bill will provide $355 million in mandatory rural development funding
over the next five years.
Four provisions
of critical importance to rural Colorado are:
- Farm Service
Agencies: Earlier this year, there were reports that the
Farm Service Agency was proposing to close the FSA offices in Bent,
Larimer, Rio Grande, Conejos and El Paso Counties. During committee
consideration, Senator Salazar fought for and passed an amendment
to prevent the closure of Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices in Colorado.
The amendment will keep the FSA offices open for at least five additional
years.
- Investments
in Rural Broadband and Closing the Digital Divide:
Senator Salazar led an effort to invest in the expansion of access
to broadband in rural areas. According to the Government Accounting
Office, only 17 percent of rural households currently have broadband
access to the internet. These investments, loans and loan guarantees,
will expand economic and educational opportunities for rural residents.
- Permanent Ag
Disaster Fund: Senator Salazar helped lead efforts in the
Senate Finance Committee and Senate Agriculture Committee to create
an agriculture disaster trust fund. The $5.1 billion that Senator
Salazar secured will provide needed assistance to those farmers and
ranchers suffering from disasters. It will also streamline the process
so that aid can be provided in a timely manner to help prevent bankruptcies
and foreclosures.
- Micro Enterprise
Loans: Senator Salazar helped secure $40 million for the
Micro Enterprise Loan program, which provides technical assistance
and small loans and grants to beginning rural entrepreneurs. Micro
Enterprise Loans will provide incentives for beginning entrepreneurs
to open their businesses in rural communities, thereby creating jobs
and decreasing the rates of rural out migration. According to the
Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, micro-enterprises
account for 30 percent of the jobs in 37 of the state’s mostly rural
counties.
II. CONSERVATION:
Farmers and ranchers are some of our best stewards of our land and water.
We need programs in the Farm Bill that reward farmers and ranchers not
just for the food, feed, fiber and fuel they supply, but also for the
clean water, clean air, and wildlife habitat they provide and protect.
Three conservation
programs of particular importance to Colorado:
- Environmental
Quality Incentives Program (EQIP): This bill reauthorizes
this working lands program, which provides farmers and ranchers with
financial and technical assistance to plan and implement soil and
water conservation practices. Average annual funding to Colorado ranges
between $30-40 million for over 1,000 projects, and this bill will
ensure that farmers and ranchers continue to have access to this essential
program.
- Conservation
Security/Stewardship Program (CSP): This program will enroll
up to 3 million acres of working land in Colorado with contracts for
the state valued at $156 million over the life of the 2007 Farm Bill.
The Conservation Security/Stewardship Program (CSP) is a voluntary
stewardship program that provides financial and technical assistance
to promote the conservation and improvement of soil, water, air, energy,
plant and animal life, and other conservation purposes on private
working agriculture lands.
- Conservation
Reserve Program (CRP): The bill reauthorizes this important
land retirement program, which means that Colorado will be able to
maintain the 2.375 million Colorado acres that are currently enrolled
in CRP. Colorado received $75.3 million in CRP payments in 2006, and
this bill will ensure that Colorado continues to receive these investments
in our most environmentally sensitive lands to protect our land and
water.
- Colorado River
Basin States Salinity Parallel Program: The bill includes
an amendment authored by Sen. Salazar, which clarifies the Bureau
of Reclamation’s authority to administer on-farm financial assistance
for salinity control activities in Colorado and throughout the upper
Colorado River Basin. Since the program’s inception, nearly $3.5 million
of on-farm financial assistance has already come through the Colorado
State Conservation Board to improve irrigation efficiency and prevent
deep percolation. An additional $4.8 million is committed to landowners
through contracts for irrigation improvements. The program helps producers
improve irrigation infrastructure by providing incentives to convert
dirt delivery and head ditches to concrete, underground, and gated
pipe systems and to install a variety of sprinkler systems, measuring
and cleaning structures, and diversion boxes. Colorado has been able
to fund needed salinity reduction projects that could not have been
funded by EQIP. It has also funded projects to improve wildlife habitat
on private and state lands.
III. GROWING OUR
ENERGY AND RURAL ECONOMIES: The investments this bill makes
in energy independence open a new chapter of opportunities for rural
America. It spurs innovation in the rural energy sector, thereby advancing
America toward energy independence, protecting our environment, and
stimulating rural economies. Senator Salazar believes that Colorado
is poised to become the renewable energy capital of the world; this
bill will help accomplish that vision by providing $1.3 billion to important
energy programs. Coupled with a package of legislation drafted by the
Senate Finance Committee there will be an investment of nearly $3 billion
in renewable energy programs.
The key renewable
energy provisions for Colorado:
- Renewable Energy
Collaboratory:
Senator Salazar authorized $5 million in annual funds for the “Colorado
Renewable Energy Collaboratory,” which pools the research efforts
of CSU, CU, NREL and School of Mines. The Collaboratory will allow
Colorado to more effectively harness this world class research, develop
new energy technologies, and to transfer these advances to the private
sector.
- Renewable Energy
for America Program (REAP): Senator Salazar assisted in securing
$230 million in mandatory funding over the life of the Farm Bill for
REAP, which is a program to assist farmers, ranchers, and rural small
businesses in becoming more energy efficient and provides them assistance
to transition to using renewable energy technology and resources.
- Biomass Research
and Development: Senator Salazar worked to include $75 million
over the life of the bill for grants and education programs for biomass
research and development.
- Grants for Biomass
Projects: Senator Salazar helped secure $30 million in grants
for feedstock harvest, handling, transport, and storage as well as
additional research and demonstration grants for biomass.
- Biodiesel Education
Program: Senator Salazar helped to reauthorize the Biodiesel
Education Program providing $10 million in funding for the program
over the next five years.
- Sun Grant Initiative:
Senator Salazar assisted in extending the authorization for
the Sun Grant Initiative, which is a national network of land-grant
universities that partner with Department of Energy laboratories to
work on advancing the bio-based industry, including NREL in Golden,
Colorado.
- Creates bio-refinery
re-powering grants: Senator
Salazar assisted in creating and funding bio-refinery re-powering
grants at $300 million.
- Investing in
Hydroelectric Power: Senator Salazar worked to ensures that
small, low-impact hydro projects are included in the list of projects
that will be eligible for loans and grants. Hydroelectric power contributes
7% of our energy. DOE estimated in 2006 there are 5,400 potential
small hydro projects in the U.S. which, if developed, could increase
U.S. annual hydro power generation by more than 50%.
- Creating grants
for “biochar”: Senator Salazar worked to create over $500
million in grants over the next five years for feedstock harvest,
handling, transport, and storage as well as additional research and
demonstration grants for “biochar,” which is added to soil to improve
fertility, nutrient retention, and soil carbon sequestration.
- Federal Biobased
Products Procurement Program: Senator Salazar worked to extend
the federal Biobased Products Procurement Program. This program purchases
biobased products for Federal agencies. This will aid in the development
and application of economically useful bio-based energy products such
as small wind and cellulosic biofuels tax credits.
IV. FARM BILL REFORM:
- Adjusted Gross
Income (AGI) Test:
The Senate Farm Bill enacts stricter income limitations for participating
in farm programs. Currently a part-time farmer may not receive payments
if their income exceeds $2.5 million. This legislation lowers that
limit by 70% to $750,000.
- Three-Entity
Rule: Under current law, a producer may double his/her commodity
payments by splitting their operations into three entities. This complex
system has allowed individuals to evade existing payment limits. This
legislation eliminates this loophole.
- Direct Attribution:
Under current law, farm program payments are not tracked to actual
human beings, but instead go to corporate structures leading to an
unclear picture as to who exactly is receiving what payments. The
2007 Farm Bill requires every payment to be attributed to an actual
person. This reform is largely recognized as one of the most important
reforms in the bill.
- Payment Limit
Cap: The payment limit cap for direct and counter-cyclical
payments is cut by 5%.
- Cowboy Starter
Kits: Under current law, owners of land that had once been
in agricultural production but has been subdivided and developed for
residential purposes are nonetheless eligible for commodity payments.
A Salazar-Nelson amendment to the Senate Farm Bill attacks this loophole
by requiring the USDA to permanently reduce base acres for land that
has:
- been developed for
commercial or industrial use (already in law); or
- sub-divided and developed
into multiple residential units or other non-farming uses or is
otherwise no longer intended to be used in conjunction with a
farming operation.
- Crop Insurance:
Although crop insurance is sold and serviced by private insurance
companies, the federal government shares in program losses and reimburses
the companies for their administrative and operating (A&O) expenses.
The current reimbursement rate averages out to 22-24% of total premiums,
and has made A&O expenses a financial drain on the federal government.
The Senate Farm Bill includes a 2 percentage point reduction in A&O
(nearly 10%) expenses. This is a PERMANENT reduction and is intended
to address the growth in A&O payments.
Other crop insurance reforms
include:
- Reduction of the
loss ratio (total indemnities divided by total premiums) from
1.075% to 1%.
- Increase in fees
for catastrophic (CAT) insurance and the non-insurable (NAP) crops
program.
*These crop insurance
reforms alone represent $3.6 billion in crop revenue offsets over five
years*
Overall, $7.5 billion is
removed from the commodity programs and re-allocated to conservation,
nutrition, energy, and rural development programs.
V. KEEPING AMERICANS
HEALTHY – This bill invests in our public health and safety,
improves nutrition and fights hunger in our Nation and in Colorado.
- Country of Origin
Labeling:
Country - of - Origin Labeling: The 2007 Farm Bill ensures that consumers
will be able to know where the foods they feed their families comes
from. Specifically, country-of-origin labeling will be provided for
beef, lamb, pork and goat meat, fruits and vegetables, and peanuts.
A product can be labeled as a product of United States if the commodity
was exclusively born, raised and slaughtered in the United States.
- Fresh Fruit and
Vegetable Program: Today, over 346,000 Colorado children
eat school lunches. Under this bill, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable
Program, which provides fruits and vegetables to school children,
will be expanded to all 50 states. Colorado was among 15 states that
were not eligible for the program and therefore received $0 through
this program under the 2002 Farm Bill. Colorado will now receive $45
million in federal funds to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to
approximately 80,000 schoolchildren per year.
- Providing Locally
Produced Foods for School Meal Programs: Section 9 of the
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act encourages institutions
that are participating in the school lunch program to buy “locally
produced foods for school meal programs, to the maximum extent practicable
and appropriate.” The 2007 Farm Bill provides an option for school
meal programs to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables.
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