August 5, 2000 / By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats and Republicans agree it's time to fix federal agricultural policy. But the parties, in their platforms, are not saying how -- and that's the tricky part because even farmers themselves don't agree on what's best.
The Republican platform states that the GOP-authored farm law of 1996, known as Freedom to Farm, "has been limited by events at home and abroad." The party calls for "immediate action on a safety net" for federal farm supports.
Democrats, in the platform they are set to approve at their convention next week in Los Angeles, say the law is "misguided and must change." They promise to "strengthen, not shred, the safety net."
"There is going to be a very serious look at farm policy next year and it appears there may be more impetus to push something instead of waiting for the (1996 law) to expire in 2002," said Mary Kay Thatcher, a lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau Federation.
The law, which had broad support from farmers when it was passed, ended a Depression-era system of production controls and allowed growers to plant anything they wanted without fear of losing government subsidies.
As Republicans designed it, the law was supposed to wean farmers from government assistance.
But four years later, the country is awash in grain, commodity prices are at historic lows, and Congress has had to pass three multibillion-dollar bailouts in as many years to keep the agricultural economy afloat.
Government farm payments are expected to total nearly $23 billion this year -- about half of the current total net farm income and three times the payouts in 1996.
With bumper crops in the fields this summer and grain stocks swelling worldwide, economists do not foresee a turnaround in commodity prices soon.
"The course the Republicans are on is heading for a train wreck," said John Schnittker Sr., a private consultant and former USDA economist. "Freedom to Farm is programmed to add large commodity stocks to our surplus year after year after year until we get a drought or until the world gets a big crop failure."
Schnittker says Congress needs to reinstate production controls to shrink the surpluses and drive up commodity prices.
Neither the Democratic or the GOP platform suggests anything like that. The idea of limiting production has been strongly opposed by both major farm groups as well as grain buyers that would pay the higher prices.
Both parties, echoing farm groups and agribusiness, see increased trade as the solution to higher farm prices.
Democrats, in their platform, pledge to "open markets abroad." The GOP says "prosperity depends in large measure on expansion of global markets," the GOP platform says.
Despite President Clinton's successes in securing better access for farm products in China and Mexico, Republicans accuse his administration of "ineptitude" in trade policy.
Ann Veneman, considered a leading candidate to be agriculture secretary if Republican George W. Bush wins the presidency, is an expert on farm trade who served in the Agriculture Department during his father's administration and later was California's agriculture commissioner.
By emphasizing trade, the parties are reflecting the priorities of farm groups and agribusiness.
A letter sent July 31 letter Bush and Vice President Al Gore, the presumptive Democratic nominee, from 95 farm organizations and business groups urged the candidates to make expansion of agricultural trade a top priority.
"Even the best farm policy cannot undo bad trade policy," the letter said.
There has been no such consensus in or outside Congress on what do about government income support for farmers, according to Rep. Larry Combest, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. A supplemental income program proposed by the Clinton administration earlier this year went nowhere.
"Finding a solution to these challenges won't be a simple task," the Texas Republican said.
A delegate to the Republican convention, Nebraska businessman David Hergert, said both parties deserve blame for problems in farm policy and should work together to solve them.
"Neither party can go in there and try to ram something through," he said. "It's going to have to be nonpartisan.":
