It has been almost a month since President Bush signed the "Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002."
Auburn's Agricultural Economics Department Head, John Adrian, expressed anticipation concerning the $ 110 million implementation activity.
The bill was scheduled to get its wheels spinning by November, but some checks are already arriving, as are trained Extension agents. Auburn's Extension Service is buzzing with news of the first steps to implement the "safety net" programs as well as the 80 percent increase to conservation programs. There are more than 48,000 people in Alabama who call themselves farmers.
Farming and industries relating to it (equipment dealers, feed and seed suppliers, exporters and retailers) account for more than 22 percent of the state's direct output -- more than any other industry. And all are familiar with Auburn's well-deserved reputation as an agricultural school; just take a drive down new fraternity row.
So, what does this new bill mean to Alabama farmers and the school behind them?
"It depends," is Robert Goodman's "economic professor-like" answer. Goodman, an Extension economist and an associate professor at the College of Agriculture, explained the nuts and bolts of the bill and a little of how it will affect Alabama's farmers.
Goodman explained how a good aspect of the bill is its safety net capabilities to struggling farmers.
"Agriculture is a business where you cannot know ahead of time what you'll have come harvest ... you just have to plant and hope," Goodman said.
The bill works by establishing two prices for every commodity or crop -- a low price and a target, or fair, price.
For example, if a farmer plants and hopes only to get hit with drought or bad seed and cannot sell a fair amount at the fair price, the government will buy from him at whatever the difference between the fair and low price for every acre lost.
"The new bill provides stability through the payments because it only pays when prices are low," Goodman said.
Another improvement from the 1996 Farm Bill to the new one is provisions for payment limitations, in other words, a system of checks and balances to make sure just the rich aren't getting richer.
Besides the Alabama commodities getting a helping hand, there are conservation programs that are now finally getting the attention and funding they need thanks to the largest increase in conservation spending in history.
The Farmland Protection Program is getting a 20 percent increase; the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program is getting a tenfold increase and the Small Watershed Rehabilitation Program -- a program vital to rural Alabama -- is getting a $ 275 million makeover.
Goodman also discussed some of the negative aspects of the bill. Obviously a big concern is the money it will cost the government and the trickle effect to taxpayers.
"Right now," Goodman said, "due to overproduction and low prices, farmers need more and more protection, regardless the cost."
The government will buy the under priced goods from farmers who cannot sell them.
A humanitarian plus to the bill is where those crops that the government acquires go. A segment of the bill that accounts for $ 6.4 billion includes a streamlined food stamp program, free fruits and vegetables in school lunches and providing commodities to food banks and soup kitchens.
The Alabama Farmer's Federation, which has been serving Alabama's farmers since 1921, thinks southern agriculture as a whole will fare better under the new bill. They also emphasize the importance of the removal of the quota system in the peanut industry for the southeast.
The bill has specific improvements allotted for rural development. Eighty million dollars will be used to provide residents of under served areas access to their local TV stations and there are plans for energy improvements, firefighters programs and better broadband service in rural areas.
Auburn is expected to feel more effects and receive more benefits because of the implementation of the bill as time passes.:
