Page 4 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

By Sara Wyant
The process for writing what was expected to be the 2012 farm bill started in a fairly routine
way: staff discussions, member meetings and hearings to gather input from farmers and
consumers.

Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., chaired the House Agriculture Committee at the time and kicked
off a series of field hearings on April 23, 2010, in Pennsylvania, listening to farmers and
agribusiness leaders with a primary focus on one of his favorite topics: dairy policy.

Ranking Member Frank Lucas, R-Okla., described that hearing as “two-and-a-half hours to kick
off two-and-a-half years.”
If only it had been so simple and so quick.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee and officially started
farm bill work with a June 30, 2010, hearing in Washington, titled: “Maintaining Our Domestic
Food Supply through a Strong U.S. Farm Policy.”

Just six years earlier, Lincoln had won her second Senate bid by 56 percent to 44 percent, even
as Republican President George W. Bush carried her home state with 54 percent of the vote.

But by the 2010 midterm elections, the politics in her historically “blue” state had changed
rapidly. The Tea Party wave of voters – concerned about the federal deficit and upset with
President Barack Obama – was rolling across Arkansas.

Lincoln found herself trying to straddle the wave, but she needed much more than a surfboard.
On one hand, she worked as a fiscally conservative centrist who could get things done, while
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