Underwood farmer: Schafer authority limited
Published Friday, February 1, 2008
Lance Peterson, Under-wood area farmer who is president of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, said that recently confirmed U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer will have little impact in negotiation for a new five-year farm bill. That’s because, according to Peterson, the Bush Administration is retaining former Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner as the key point man in negotiations with Congress.
Area farmers and lawmakers previously hoped that Schafer, former governor of North Dakota, would have a major role in the debate between Congress and the Bush Administration. That’s not going to happen, predicts Peterson.
“Unfortunately, from what I’m hearing as president of the soybean growers association, is that former Acting Agriculture Secretary Conner will be the lead person in negotiations, rather than Schafer,” Peterson said. “Congress and the Bush Administration are at odds over higher target prices, loan rates and other issues related to the five-year farm bill.”
Conner said the House version of the bill, which came out of a committee chaired by Minnesota Congressman Collin Peterson, Detroit Lakes, is better than the Senate version. Overall, Conner said he and the administration object to $8 billion in new taxes.
He has reiterated the Bush's Administration's threat to veto the bill in its present form.
Conner said the Senate version would allow farm subsidy payments to continue for people who have over $750,000 of adjusted gross income. The House version sets the limit at $500,000 with certain exemptions and a hard cap at $1 million. The Bush administration wants to drop the limit to $200,000. The cap is now $2.5 million.
The Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, headed by Underwood farmer Peterson, is a non-profit, farmer-controlled membership organization established in 1962. Its goal is to assure profitable soybean farming by monitoring government policies and supporting research and market development activities.
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