Gillibrand outlines priorities in proposed farm bill

As area farmers watch over their crops, milk their cows, and produce fruits and vegetables for markets, the $500 billion farm bill soon will again be under consideration on Capitol Hill.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to begin considering the farm bill during the week of May 13, according to U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–NY).

Gillibrand spoke in a conference call with reporters on May 7 about her priorities for the farm bill.

The Senate approved a five-year farm bill in 2012, but Gillibrand contends the Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives “failed to do their part” to pass legislation in that body, so lawmakers are “forced” to debate the measure again.

The farm bill includes measures that would strengthen specialty-crop insurance, improve access to credit for struggling farmers, invest in broadband service for rural customers, and reform dairy pricing and strengthen income for dairy farmers, according to Gillibrand’s office.

As of 2010, New York is home to more than 36,000 farms that stretch across nearly 7 million acres of land, or about one-fourth of the state.

The figures include more than 6,200 farms and nearly 1.3 million acres in Central New York; more than 5,100 farms and over 1 million acres in the Southern Tier; and nearly 4,300 farms and more than 1 million acres of farmland in the North Country, according to figures that the lawmaker’s office provided.

The industry generates about $4.5 billion for the state’s economy each year, producing items that include milk, cheese and yogurt, apples, grapes and other fruits and vegetables, and a growing Greek-yogurt industry, Gillibrand’s office said.

“I want New York to lead the nation in agricultural production,” Gillibrand said during the conference call.

In her meetings with farmers statewide, the Democrat said she learned that New York farms often struggle to secure the financing they need to survive, grow, or expand.

Gillibrand is pushing for proposals that expand access to credit for farmers through the Agriculture Credit Expansion bill, and strengthen rural economies through the Broadband Connections for Rural Opportunities bill — legislation that aims to boost the speed and quality of Internet access in rural areas.

Additionally, Gillibrand is pushing to reauthorize the Rural Economic Area Partnership (REAP) Zone initiative, which provides priority access to federal funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support economic-development projects and job creation in struggling rural communities, including three existing REAP Zones in New York, such as the one in Tioga County.

Gillibrand also wants expanded access for more of New York’s rural communities to federal funding by raising the population limit for eligibility and giving the USDA greater authority to make common-sense determinations on which communities are rural in character and eligible for funding through USDA programs that support community facilities, water and wastewater infrastructure, rural businesses, and rural broadband.

Specialty crops

Specialty crops generate nearly $1.4 billion for New York’s economy each year, according to Gillibrand’s office, making up one-third of New York’s agriculture industry. New York ranks in the top three nationally for production and value of apples, cabbage and grapes, the senator said.

Gillibrand is pushing her Specialty Crop Insurance Improvement bill to strengthen insurance protections for fruit and vegetable farmers, such as those that suffered greatly from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, along with the Shellfish Marketing Fairness bill to make farmed-shellfish producers eligible for the Specialty-Crop Block-Grant program.

And to help cut through the “bureaucracy” that can hold New York’s specialty-crop products from reaching the market, Senator Gillibrand is pushing for the Apple Red Tape Elimination bill.

“Now, this is legislation that would eliminate duplicative-inspection fees for apple farmers,” Gillibrand said.

Strengthening dairy farms

Gillibrand pledges to continue fighting for the Dairy Pricing Reform bill to change the way the USDA sets dairy prices.

The bill forces the USDA to begin the hearing process to restructure the pricing system and direct the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack to release the department’s recommendations to Congress.

The proposed legislation would require the USDA to study different methods of determining prices, including competitive-pay pricing or shifting from a four-class system to a two-class system for setting the price of milk. 

Gillibrand also wants lawmakers to approve Dairy Income Fairness bill, which is legislation that would give farms with 200 cows or less a guaranteed $6.50 margin, or “the cost of milk minus the cost of feed,” as Gillibrand described it.

The measure would exempt the first 200 cows from supply management. The bill would also extend the current Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program for nine months, pegged to inflation, while the USDA establishes a new and more sustainable program for dairy farmers.

Additionally, Gillibrand wants a measure that would strengthen cold-storage inventory reporting, and give the USDA the authority to audit warehouse inventories to help bring more stability to dairy-trading prices.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com