House Takes Another Whack at Spending for Agriculture

Post by Ariane Lotti, July 26, 2011

Policy Director Ariane Lotti serves as OFRF's organic boots on the ground in Washington, D.C.

In mid-June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed on a vote of 217-203 its bill (H.R. 2112) to fund food and agriculture programs in 2012 as part of Congress’ annual appropriations process. The bill contains major cuts to nutrition, conservation, research, rural development, and food safety programs, as well as several controversial riders and amendments. Organic-specific programs fared modestly well despite the overall dire funding situation.

This year’s environment of hyper-partisanship and very tight budget constraints has added a new level of drama to what is normally a pretty dull agriculture appropriations process. Attacks on local food systems, fairness in livestock markets, genetically-engineered salmon, and commodity subsidies were all part of the bill’s floor debate as lawmakers sought to squash certain 2008 Farm Bill implementation efforts and redirect very limited funds to different parts of the bill. Additionally, because the bill limits funding available for mandatory farm bill programs, it impacts the funding available for the 2012 Farm Bill and is, in some respects, like a mini-farm bill.

Program Funding Outcomes
Organic programs survived further cuts, due in large part to efforts of the Organic Farmers Action Network and organic supporters taking action to defend federal investments in organic.

The Organic Transitions Integrated Research Program (PDF) stayed at its current funding level of $4 million (it was cut by $1 million – but not eliminated – earlier this year in the 2011 budget debate). The National Organic Program also retained its current funding level of almost $7 million, and the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (ATTRA) was funded at $2 million after having been eliminated earlier this year.

Conservation programs took an enormous cut of over $1 billion. The Conservation Stewardship Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and the Wetlands Reserve Program all sustained significant cuts that will negatively impact efforts to improve farmers' practices and to enhance environmental services such as clean water, better soil quality, and increased biodiversity.

Amendments
Many amendments were offered throughout the bill’s floor debate. OFRF closely followed and worked on the following:

• Rep. Farr (D-CA) amendment on organic data collection

Rep. Farr offered an amendment to fund the Organic Production and Market Data Initiatives (ODI) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) request of $300,000. ODI is a multi-agency initiative from the 2008 Farm Bill that supports price and data collection and reporting for the organic sector. The amendment passed with strong bi-partisan support, 352-70.

• Rep. Pingree (D-ME) amendment against damaging report language on local and regional food systems

The bill includes report language creating overly burdensome reporting requirements for USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative, and urges the department not to conduct competitive research on rural economic development through local and regional food systems. Rep. Pingree offered an amendment to counter this over-reaching report language. Unfortunately, the amendment failed, 170-238.

• Rep. Young (R-AK) amendment on genetically engineered salmon

Rep. Young offered an amendment to prohibit the Food and Drug Administration from using funds to approve a controversial application for genetically engineered salmon. The amendment passed on a voice vote.

• Rep. Foxx (R-NC) amendment against rural development through local and regional food systems

Rep. Foxx offered an amendment to prohibit USDA from using existing funds for rural economic development through USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative. This amendment was a classic example of ideological grand-standing because the initiative has no budget of its own; it is a management initiative aimed at streamlining the delivery of and outreach on local and regional food system programs authorized by Congress at USDA. The amendment passed, 212-201.

Next Steps
Washington is currently in wait-and-see mode as lawmakers negotiate the terms of a vote on raising the nation’s debt ceiling. While the House has passed its agricultural spending bill, the Senate has not actively started working on its bill and does not anticipate doing so until the fall. The agriculture appropriations bill that comes out of the Senate will then have to be reconciled with the House-passed bill.

To stay informed of when and how you can take action in support of organic agriculture, sign-up for OFRF’s Organic Farmers Action Network.