Waiting for farm bill not good choice, Wiesmeyer warns

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BY ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star

President Bush and the U.S. Senate appear to be at least $10 billion apart on the cost of the next farm bill, but farm groups need action now on the next five years of farm program spending.

That was the Tuesday message to the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation from veteran farm bill watcher Jim Wiesmeyer.

Continuing signs of an economic downturn and expectations of tighter federal budgets add to the sense of urgency, warned Wiesmeyer, a Washington-based commentator for the Pro Farmer information service.

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"You'd better get a new farm bill signed," veteran farm bill watcher Jim Wiesmeyer said Tuesday. As a matter of spending priorities, waiting means "rather than being at the front of the line, agriculture will be in the middle at best."

"You'd better get a new farm bill signed," veteran farm bill watcher Jim Wiesmeyer said Tuesday. As a matter of spending priorities, waiting means "rather than being at the front of the line, agriculture will be in the middle at best."

“You’d better get a new farm bill signed,” Wiesmeyer said at the Farm Bureau’s 2008 legislative conference. As a matter of spending priorities, waiting means “rather than being at the front of the line, agriculture will be in the middle at best.”

Wiesmeyer was the first in a two-day procession of speakers covering a range of topics that includes food safety, ethanol, highway funding and other topics.

The importance of the farm bill in that mix can be measured by the $812 million routed to the state’s agricultural sector as direct government spending in 2006.

The outlook for federal expenditures since then is much reduced. Wiesmeyer credited a strong outlook for the agricultural economy. “I will tell you that we’re in a golden age of production agriculture.”

He gave much of the credit to biofuels, “the biggest story of my 30-year career.”

And he suggested this is a sustainable gain for grain producers. “Anyone who tells you that you’re not in a growth industry is just wrong,” he said. “They’re not looking at the facts.”

But despite the potential for prosperity, he said, the time will come again when grain growers will need the safety-net features of the farm bill.

He was not as optimistic about where Congress and the executive branch are headed in providing that safety net.

“Charitably, I will tell you that this is the most disorganized Senate Agriculture Committee I’ve seen in my 30 years of covering the farm bill.”

Sought out later Tuesday, Brad Lubben, a farm-policy analyst at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said a government-spending strategy ushered in last year by Democratic lawmakers is one reason for such slow going.

It requires offsets for new program spending. “I think this farm bill process has been more challenging that most,” Lubben said, “and in recent times, it’s been extremely challenging because of budget restraints.”

Wiesmeyer thinks President Bush is completely serious in threatening to veto what he sees as unacceptable results, especially those put forward by the Senate.

“If they want a farm bill Bush will sign,” he said, “cuts are ahead.”

Reach Art Hovey at 473-7223 or ahovey@journalstar.com.