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Several new farm bill proposals, including those by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., have started farm bill activity in the Senate, increasing the possibility that a new farm bill could be enacted this year.

"Things are changing daily in the Senate," Keith Stimpert, OFBF vice president of government affairs said. "This is a work in progress, and although we have some sense that the Senate is a little reluctant to spend as much as the House, we’re confident they will come up with something as balanced as the House bill."

For example, the Senate’s commodity title costs $40 billion while the House version spends $48 billion.

"The environmentalists complained the House version did not do enough for the environment, but the new version would spend 70 percent more than the current bill," Stimpert said. "The House version is very balanced, and farmers would really benefit from it."

Senate Ag Committee Chairman Harkin's proposal would provide higher loan rates; fixed, de-coupled payments; countercyclical payments and conservation incentives. Harkin proposes a five-year farm bill beginning with the 2002 crop year.

The committee continues to mark up the titles. They have already marked up the credit title which would help beginning farmers and ranchers gain greater access to federal lending, make the interest rate reduction program permanent, ease paperwork requirements and allow financing of overseas warehouses to store U.S. grain. At press time the committee was working on the rural development and research titles.

The committee's success in passing a farm bill this year could mean the difference between additional farm spending of $73.5 billion over 10 years, or far less as agriculture competes for a shrinking budget with other priorities that include defense and security after the Sept. 11 attacks.

American Farm Bureau believes the Harkin proposal was a respectable starting point, but it would not garner sufficient support for committee approval without significant compromise.

The Harkin proposal would maintain direct payments and authorize countercyclical payments for wheat, corn, sorghum, barley, oats, rice, soybeans, minor oilseeds and upland cotton for crop years 2003-06. The direct payments would be made in December of the prior crop year or January of the current crop year, depending on the producer's preference. Countercyclical payments would begin six months into the crop year, with the final payment to be made one month after the end of the crop year. The bill would limit combined direct and countercyclical payments per individual.

Eligibility both for direct payments and for countercyclical payments would be tied to a producer's compliance with conservation requirements including wetland protection, planting flexibility restrictions and agricultural use rules.

Harkin's proposal would increase the number of acres allowed to enroll in the conservation reserve program to 40 million and increase conservation program spending by about $23 billion over 10 years, compared to a $15 billion increase over 10 years in the House bill. Harkin would also create a new conservation security program to provide incentive payments to producers for adopting conservation practices on "working lands."