Members of the Kansas delegation to Congress know most of their work this year will involve reauthorization of the Farm Bill.

“It’s going to be a tough row to hoe. There’s already been quite a bit of criticism in the national media,” said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.

In general, farm subsidies have received criticism, especially with the agriculture economy performing better than five years ago. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has indicated the Bush administration will propose leaner farm assistance.

But Kansas and Douglas County farmers say they are confident new legislation will include enough important policies for agriculture in the state, particularly for protection during tough times.

“In my lifetime, there’s been several occasions when we’ve had price increases but they haven’t lasted. That’s why it’s so important to have that federal safety net,” said Kansas Agriculture Secretary Adrian Polansky.

Priorities

Members of the Kansas Congressional delegation listed some of their Farm Bill priorities as rural development, energy initiatives and conservation, providing crop assistance as a safety net against drought conditions, and compliance with World Trade Organization rules.

“In general, I think most farmers are interested in something similar to what we’ve had (in 2002). It had good things added (in the 2002 law) that have given us more flexibility to follow the market and adapt new practices,” said state Sen. Roger Pine, whose family owns and operates Pine Family Farms northeast of Lawrence.

Pine says subsidies play significantly into farmers’ budgets each year, but they are not dominant.

Farmers receive subsidies when crop prices dip below a certain level. While the federal government is expected to grant about $7 billion less in subsidies this year because of higher prices, mostly of corn, criticism generally comes from both conservative and more liberal voices.

“We need to start out from an assumption that prices and profits are going to rise and fall with the market,” said Pete Sepp, spokesman for the National Taxpayers Union, an organization that advocates limited government and low taxes in Alexandria, Va. “There is almost no other economic sector in our country that the federal government attempts to manipulate that process.”

Pine said costs of equipment and living and other inputs make it necessary for farmers to rely on government assistance.

“Frankly, in one respect, it’s a security issue,” Pine said. “I don’t think the U.S. wants to be pinned on the rest of the world to feed its population. It is an asset to the U.S. when we export.”

Confidence in leadership

Kansas Farm Bureau President Steve Baccus, a farmer from Minneapolis, Kan., said the federal government has implemented quality controls that lead to a safe and inexpensive food supply.

“We import our oil, and we import a tremendous amount of it. I don’t think we ever want to get into a place where we want to import our food,” he said.

Democrats have regained control of Congress, and Sen. Tom Harkin, of Iowa, and U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, of Minnesota, will chair each house’s agriculture committee.

“We have quite a bit of confidence in the new leadership,” said Stan Larson, a Douglas County rancher and farmer who is president of the Douglas County Farm Bureau.

Polansky said he believed the new chairmen would support legislation that follows the 2002 Farm Bill.

“From a Congressional perspective, I feel better with the new leadership of House and Senate agriculture committees than I did last year,” Polansky said.

In the U.S. House, Jerry Moran, R-Hays, and Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, have spots on the agriculture committee. Roberts also has one in the Senate.

Sepp, with the National Taxpayers Union, said the organization would support a stricter process of granting subsidies to keep them from larger corporate farms.

But Baccus said the “American way” is to grow one’s business to be successful and that economies of scale are important.

“I think they will see it as a worthy expenditure of funds,” he said. “They will make sure we are spending and accounting for it properly. As long as we answer those questions, they will be supportive of it.”