WASHINGTON -- The Senate version of the Farm Bill, which passed Feb. 13 by a 58-40 vote, contains the highest conservation, specialty crop, dairy, rural development and nutrition funding levels ever included in federal farm legislation. The emphasis on conservation funds, the new help for specialty crop growers and the safety net program for dairy farmers combine to make the Senate Farm Bill the best farm bill ever for Vermont and for the environment.

The bill takes major new strides toward achieving more regional equity for Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Federal farm programs have long been oriented toward the costly "commodity" programs – subsidies to producers of wheat, corn and other grains. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a senior member of the Agriculture Committee and its former chairman, worked closely with the bipartisan alliance of senators from Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states that he helped form two years ago, informally known as "the Eggplant Caucus," to provide crucial drafting and support for a wide range of provisions important to Vermont and to New England in the Senate Farm Bill that improve the bill’s regional balance. Leahy is the only senator from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states on the Agriculture Committee. The coalition showed strength last year in a crop insurance debate. This year, during the floor fight on this Senate Farm Bill, the caucus held the swing votes critical for its passage.

"This historic level of funding for conservation, dairy, rural development and nutrition in the Senate Farm Bill positions us where we want to be with 21^st Century agriculture policy," said Leahy. "This Farm Bill will return record funds to Vermont to support our dairy programs, our specialty crops, our farmers’ markets and low-income nutrition assistance programs. It will mean cleaner waterways. It will help farmers who are working hard to maintain family farms. And it will benefit the economies of our local communities in numerous ways, large and small."

The bill now goes to House-Senate conference to iron out differences between the House and Senate bills. Leahy will be one of seven Senate conferees.

CONSERVATION: Championed by Sen. Leahy and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), working with Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the conservation title of the Senate Farm Bill includes record levels of conservation assistance -- an average of $4.4 billion each year nationally -- for working farms and forests. Touted as the most sweeping environmental legislation since the Clean Air Act by a leading environmental organization (New York Times, Feb. 14, 2002), the Farm Bill’s conservation section more than doubles current conservation spending and was written specifically to send over $12 million in popular land, wildlife, and water quality protection funds to Vermont and other small states each year.

Within this package of conservation programs lies an historic increase in Sen. Leahy’s Farmland Protection Program – a working farmland conservation program authored by Leahy in the 1996 Farm Bill. Previously funded at $35 million and hugely oversubscribed by interested farmers, the Farmland Protection Program (FPP) will now receive $1.75 billion over the next six years. Last year, when Sen. Leahy inserted $17.5 million in farmland protection funds into the crop insurance bill, Vermont received $3.3 million. Since 1996, the FPP program in Vermont has protected more than 80,000 acres of the state’s most precious farmland.

Other programs already popular in Vermont include the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, increased from $200 million a year to more than $6.2 billion in the next five years, and the Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program, increased from $50 million a year to $1.25 billion in the next five years. Leahy also strongly supported the Conservation Security Program, a new program that could send up to $50,000 a year in direct payments to Vermont farmers practicing strong conservation programs on their working lands. Three new conservation forestry programs in the bill will also enhance federal assistance to sustainable forestry initiatives throughout the country.

Several national environmental groups are strongly endorsing the Senate bill and argue that the House bill conservation title, though increased from current law, does not include several clean water, wildlife habitat and other environmental programs included in the Senate bill. A comprehensive chart showing Senate Farm Bill conservation funding levels compared to current law is attached (see Conservation Chart).

SPECIALTY CROPS: Sen. Leahy also worked closely with the coalition of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic senators to secure new efforts benefitting specialty crop agriculture. New programs include $101 million in new funding for a cost-of-production insurance program for new crops, including specialty crops, and $100 million in assistance for recent market losses by apple producers. Other provisions include $650 million in directed USDA purchases of specialty crops for food assistance programs and $75 million in mandatory grant monies for marketing value-added foods.

NUTRITION: The Senate-passed farm bill also contains substantial funding for nutrition programs and critical policy changes that will increase food stamp benefits for working families, families with children, elderly and individuals with disabilities, and legal immigrants. Sen. Leahy worked to ensure that the Seniors Farmers’ Market Program received the funding needed to continue the program -- which was targeted for elimination by the Bush Administration in the budget plan released this month -- as well as supporting the WIC Farmers’ Market Program, which is in danger of not receiving full funding from USDA this year. Both of these successful programs were initiated by Leahy in earlier farm bills. More than 15,000 Vermonters benefit from the farmers’ markets programs, which are in 35 towns around the state and involve more than 200 local farmers. He also worked to maintain food stamp eligibility for families with disabled adults. Sen. Leahy also included the authorization for a research program to study nutrition and the problems of childhood obesity -- areas of expertise at the University of Vermont.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT: The bill contains $3.4 billion to assist rural areas in improving the rural infrastructure, attracting jobs, and improving high-speed internet access to businesses and homes, as well as improved satellite TV programming which will offer all local network television stations to those with satellite dishes.

The Senate-passed bill authorizes a new $700 million Rural America Infrastructure Account to close the backlog of pending rural development loans and grants. It also creates two new venture equity capital funds to be administered by the Small Business Administration that will provide grants and low interest loans to attract businesses to rural areas. The bill provides $100 million a year for new grants and low-interest loans to improve broadband access in communities with populations of 20,000 or fewer, and it includes $82 million annually for a new Rural Endowment Program to assist economically depressed communities with long-term planning, and $130 million for a new program to train rural firefighters and emergency medical personnel.

The bill also authorizes (subject to appropriations) new programs to provide: up to $1.5 billion annually in funding for rural water and waste disposal systems; $5 million annually for grants to build rural broadcasting systems; $10 million annually for a new Rural Entrepreneurs and Microenterprise Assistance Program; $30 million annually for a new Rural Telework Centers program; $25 million annually for a new Barn Preservation Program sponsored by Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.); $25 million annually for grants to senior citizen programs; and $51 million annually for new SEARCH grants to provide technical assistance to very small communities for help in meeting environmental goals.

ORGANIC AGRICULTURE: Sen. Leahy, the "father" of the national organic standards program, championed several provisions that will benefit organic farmers. The Senate Farm Bill funds a national certification cost-share program which will help farmers pay for organic certification under the National Organic Program. The bill also provides $45 million for organic farming research initiatives and authorizes a new voluntary organic research and promotion program. And the bill authorizes $75 million annually for new value-added agriculture market development grants – 5 percent of which is set aside for organic products.

DISASTER AID: The Senate Farm Bill also includes $2.4 billion in disaster aid for the 2001 crop year. Sen. Leahy worked closely with Southern senators to ensure that armyworm damage to Vermont forage crops will be eligible for crop disaster assistance payments. He will continue to work on this provision in conference to help as many Vermont farmers as possible.

ENERGY: For the first time, the Senate bill contains a new major renewable energy title. Funding for renewable energy programs is set at $550 million over five years and includes grants and loans to help establish farmer- and rancher-owned renewable energy cooperatives that would produce electricity. Funds are also made available to help to buy small-scale wind turbines, methane digesters, and solar water or heat pumps.

BANKRUPTCY: Sen. Leahy worked with Sen. Jean Carnahan (D-Mo.) to make special "Chapter 12" bankruptcy provisions for farmers a permanent part of the bankruptcy code. These basic bankruptcy safeguards enable farmers to reorganize and continue farming. The Chapter 12 provisions had expired last October, but the Senate-passed bill makes this change retroactive, so farmers who filed for bankruptcy after October 1 still will qualify for the Chapter 12 bankruptcy protections.

Feb. 15 - 18, 2002