WASHINGTON – Ten farm state lawmakers today joined Senator Chuck Grassley in urging the Department of Agriculture to allow a producer who farms parcels that are 10-acres or less in size to be combined to help alleviate a problem the agency created when it misinterpreted the farm bill passed earlier this year and made farms of this size ineligible to participate in the federal farm program.
Congress took action before adjourning for the fall election to make sure "10-acre farms" could participate for the upcoming crop year, but it will need to act again to allow participation in the farm program after 2009 and through 2012. Grassley said that by allowing voluntary "reconstitution or aggregation" of these farms to occur now, the Department of Agriculture can use its executive authority to make it easier for Congress to pass a correction for the years after 2009 because the impact on the federal budget would be less.
"This is all about fixing a problem that USDA created by misreading congressional intent in the farm bill," Grassley said. "I want to see every possible move made as soon as possible to make things right for 10-acre farmers. The more quickly we chip away at the problem, the better. There will be many competing pressures on the next Congress, and USDA can do a lot of good right now by fully exercising its authority to make things right."
The text of the letter to the Secretary of Agriculture from Grassley and other senators is below. Those signing it included Senators Robert P. Casey, Jr. of Pennsylvania, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Susan M. Collins of Maine, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Larry E. Craig of Idaho, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, and John Thune of South Dakota.
October 23, 2008
Ed Schafer
Secretary
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave, SW
Washington, DC 20250
Dear Secretary Schafer:
We write to you today to request that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) allow the reconstitution or aggregation of farms with 10 or fewer base acres for the 2009 through 2012 crop years. As you know, P.L. 110-398 mandates that the Farm Service Agency (FSA) conduct a 45 day - benefits signup and allow farms with 10 or fewer base acres to be enrolled in the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) for the 2008 crop year.
The purpose of Farm Bill Commodity Title authorized programs is to provide participating agricultural producers with economic support to ensure the continuation of sufficient and reliable food, fiber and fuel production. It is not the intent of Congress, nor should it be that of USDA to obstruct or impede sound common-sense production agriculture business practices. USDA's ignoring the well-known intent of Congress which is to allow farms with 10 acres or fewer of base acres to be combined is not only an unnecessary and unwarranted impediment to sound production agriculture, it is also a policy that blackens USDA's reputation in its longstanding role of supporting American agriculture.
Allowing farms with 10 base acres or fewer to be combined will not result in all such farms being reconstituted. Many existing farms with 10 or fewer base acres have not been participating in federal farm programs, nor will they be in the future. A large percentage of these farms with 10 or fewer base acres are the result of small acreages and parcels of land that have been carved out due to commercial and residential development and other ramifications of urban sprawl. The 2008 Farm Bill, in Section 1101(c)(2) provides USDA with authority to redesignate land that was once classified as cropland to non-cropland if it is no longer used for commercial agricultural production.
Additionally, many farms have been divided into separate resulting farms through FSA reconstitutions in order for operators to realize better crop insurance coverage and benefits. The farms in this category consisting of 10 or fewer acres will most likely not be combined.
Once these reconstitutions are completed, our request that USDA allow the combination of farms with 10 or fewer base acres will streamline farmers' and FSA's operations due to the resulting number of farms for both the FSA and farmers to manage.
In summary, we respectfully request that you reexamine the ramifications of current implementation policies USDA has in place for the 2009-2012 crop years for farms with 10 or fewer base acres, and allow the combination of these farms, with no additional or unwarranted economic encumbrances. Doing so would be a service to the agricultural producers who operate these farms, and with your effective implementation of statutory provisions which allow for redesignation of cropland to non-cropland when land is no longer used for agricultural production, program integrity and fulfillment of intent will be realized.
Sincerely,