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Senate Ag Committee holds first farm bill hearing

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[5]Senate Agriculture Committee Holds First 2012 Farm Bill Hearing

By National Association of Wheat Growers [6]

Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) began the hearing by outlining the five principles she intends to guide her Committee’s process: that farmers’ and ranchers’ work is valuable and should be appreciated; that farm bill ideas should emanate from farm country; that the 2012 Farm Bill should build off the 2008 Farm Bill; that creativity is essential to strengthening the existing safety net; and that the need to increase food production as the world’s population rises dramatically should be top of mind during farm bill discussions.

In his opening statement, Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) said he believes oversight of the 2008 Farm Bill is more appropriate at this point than discussions about a new farm bill, since farmers are still very much gaining experience with new programs like ACRE and SURE.

Questioning included a frank exchange between Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Vilsack about the media’s treatment of agriculture, which is often incomplete at best and intentionally misleading at worst.

Vilsack recounted a recent incident in which a television program hosted a guest who decried agriculture’s achievements, but hasn’t granted a request from the Secretary’s office for equal time. Roberts pressured him to name the program, which was Morning Joe.

Roberts also questioned the Secretary on two issues of great concern to many wheat producers, increasing environmental regulation and a stalled trade agenda that has left three pending free trade agreements untouched for more than two years.

As at similar hearings held by the House Agriculture Committee, witnesses and Members touched on the importance of the crop insurance program and concern about the 2012 Farm Bill baseline following cuts from the renegotiation of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement. A number of witnesses and Members also discussed the challenge of designing safety net programs in light of the very diverse American agriculture sector.