Page 89 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

partnered with the United Egg Producers in 2011 to press Congress for new national standards
for the welfare and housing of millions of hens.

“There is an HSUS chapter or affiliate in every major urban and suburban area in
America,” noted a former Senate staff member. “The number of people they can reach out
to and stir up to deliver messages on Capitol Hill is probably bigger than all of the farm
groups put together.”

So broadening coalitions to help secure votes and move a farm bill forward was a crucial part of
the Senate and House farm bill strategies.

“The rules of the game have changed,” added Mike Torrey, principal and founder of Michael
Torrey Associates. “Today, effective lobbying takes building alliances across industries and
party affiliations. A single voice is not often heard, but a diverse coalition can elevate an
issue and deliver real results. It’s not easy, but it is effective."

Connecting farmers with ‘hook’ and ‘bullet’ groups

One of the most successful coalitions in the last farm bill involved not only traditional farm
organizations but those representing a vast array of conservation, hunting, fishing and
wildlife groups.

In some respects, it was not a totally new relationship. Conservation was at the core of the
very first farm bill as farmers and environmentalists worked to contain the “Dust Bowl” where
dry winds were sweeping across the plains
and blowing away valuable top soil in the
early 1930s.

Later, in the Agricultural Act of 1956,
Congress established the “Soil Bank
Program” to retire sensitive lands while
reducing surplus production.

But modern-day conservation policy was
primarily “birthed” in the early 1980s. The
1981 farm bill was the first to contain a
conservation title with nearly a dozen
initiatives – but most were never funded.

For the 1985 farm bill, Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, pushed for enactment of the
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), aimed at idling highly erodible lands and taking
millions of acres out of production in an effort to boost commodity prices.
Then-Secretary of Agriculture John Block also wanted to push ahead with creation of the
CRP – much to the dismay of President Ronald Reagan’s budget director, David
Stockman.

“Stockman didn’t like farm programs and he especially didn’t like the CRP,” recalled a
former USDA official who worked for Block at that time. But sportsmen were ecstatic
about the possibility of more idled land for pheasants and other wildlife to nest in and
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