Page 61 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

“As we move toward a mark on the floor, I hope the issues of rice and peanuts will be given
greater consideration,” Chambliss said during the markup. “If enacted under the current
proposal, both peanuts and rice are going to take a huge hit.”

Stabenow assured them considerations for Southern crops are already in the bill, including the
Stacked Income Protection Plan for cotton.

“It’s not about one region over another, but it is complicated,” she said. “We do have STAX for
cotton, a new ag risk coverage program, special prices for rice and peanuts and new crop
insurance options. I know this is not all fully developed. We realize we’re not there yet.”

“We’ve known from the beginning as we moved away from direct payments that it would affect
the South. This is not a bill without provisions for cotton, rice and peanuts,” Stabenow explained
after the markup. “It’s a legitimate issue about transitioning.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., the other negative vote in the committee, drew back with
concerns about the $4 billion in reductions to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) spending.

Near the end of June, Stabenow and Roberts thought they
had more members on board for final passage of a bill, even
though they still faced a few troublesome amendments.
Chambliss of Georgia offered an amendment that would
have required farmers purchasing crop insurance and
receiving a premium subsidy to comply with strict soil
conservation erosion standards, known as cross compliance.
It’s not that Chambliss was a big fan of the idea, but he
wanted to signal his dissatisfaction over Roberts’ support for
commodity price protections that were in the bill. The
amendment was narrowly approved, 52-47.
But Stabenow and Roberts successfully passed a bill out of
the Senate on June 21, with a strong 64-35 margin. Forty-six Senator Saxby Chambliss, GA
Democrats and 16 Republicans voted for the bill. Both Independents who caucus with the
Democrats, Sens. Joe Lieberman, Conn., and Bernie Sanders, Vt., also voted for it.

Southern Senators were still unhappy.

Boozman, whose state of Arkansas is the nation's largest rice grower, said the Senate bill "will
have a devastating impact on Southern agriculture." Chambliss, whose state of Georgia is the
national leader in peanut production, complained it "shoehorns all producers into a one-size-fits-
all policy" that would force farmers to switch to crops that enjoy better coverage for losses.

Cochran of Mississippi issued a strong statement after the vote. “The ARC program will not
sufficiently protect rice and other regional crops from price volatilities that pose less of a risk for
commodities sustained by other government policies, such as renewable energy mandates. As
such, the Senate bill does not afford these producers sufficient protection against long term,
systemic price declines.

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