ATL ANTA, Georgia – The U.S. government is planning major changes to farm spending, says a former agriculture secretary.
“It won’t be your daddy’s farm bill,” John Block told recent agriculture industry meetings in Atlanta.
“Nothing is going to escape the budget axe with the coming budgets. All those Tea Party candidates that got elected are going to Washington to reduce the size of government.”
The Tea Party is a political movement in the United States, pushing for smaller government and lower taxes.
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The U.S. farm bill is the federal plan for agriculture production and nutrition and directs billions of dollars per year to producers.
Other countries often criticize it for distorting input, crop and livestock prices.
The government creates a new one every five years.
Direct commodity payments to farmers make up only about seven percent of the bill’s financial allocations, with funds also paid into a conservation land program that idles poor farmland.
Even though these payments are a relatively small part of the bill, they are likely a target of budget hawks in 2011, said Block.
Tom Buis, former president of the American National Farmers Union who now heads a group that represents 70 ethanol distilleries, said the 2008 bill passed by a narrow margin.
“An extension is the best you can hope for,” he told farmers and agricultural equipment dealers from Case IH during the AgConnect farm show in Atlanta.
Political analyst Roger Bernard said politicians might move money from subsidy-type payments into crop insurance programs in an effort to show good faith with voters while providing emergency funding for producers.
“After 2008, there really isn’t much of a safety net left,” he said.
