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ASA Position
ASA supports the following
provisions in the 2012 Farm Bill:
Commodities Title
ASA continues to strongly support programs in the 2012 Farm Bill that
provide the greatest possible planting flexibility. Allowing and encouraging
producers to respond to market signals rather than government programs has
been a cornerstone of the last three farm bills, and enabled U.S. soybean
plantings to increase by 15 million acres (nearly 25 percent) between 1995
and 2010.
ASA recognizes that budget constraints are likely to require restructuring
farm programs in the 2012 Farm Bill. Agriculture should accept its fair
share of any required spending reductions, provided they are proportionate
with other federal programs and they do not require restructuring of the
federal crop insurance program, which is the core safety net for producers
of soybeans and other commodities.
ASA developed and supports risk management concepts for the 2012 Farm Bill
as a means to partially offset revenue losses that exceed a specified
threshold, while complementing crop insurance. Payments under a
revenue-based program should be commodity-specific, and based on the
difference between historical and current-year revenue at the farm level.
While based on current-year production, this approach will have less of an
impact on planting decisions and production than a fixed target price
program, since any payments would be based on actual revenue losses rather
than a decline in prices from fixed support levels. Production agriculture
has inherent risks, and properly designed farm policy must not remove all
risks.
ASA recognizes that a revenue-based program may not be appropriate for all
commodities. We are open to supporting an alternative program, provided it
does not interfere with the ability of producers to respond to the market or
distort planting decisions. Additionally, programs should be in compliance
with the United States’ existing WTO commitments. Existing conservation
compliance provisions should continue as a condition of eligibility for
receiving farm program payments.
Conservation Title
ASA supports maintaining and funding programs that encourage effective
conservation practices on working lands. We support reducing the cap on
acres in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) as part of any requirement
to reduce spending under the 2012 Farm Bill and to allow U.S. producers to
respond to increasing world demand for agricultural commodities. As CRP
contracts expire, we believe the CRP should be targeted to the most
environmentally sensitive land and to meet water quality goals. Lands that
can be returned to production in an environmentally friendly manner should
be returned to productive agricultural use.
Energy Title
ASA supports reauthorization and increased mandatory funding of the
Biodiesel Fuel Education Program (Section 9006) and the Biobased Market
Program (Section 9002) in the Energy Title of the 2012 Farm Bill. We
recognize that energy programs do not have baseline funding beyond 2012.
However, the benefits provided by the Biodiesel Fuel Education Program and
the Biobased Market Program have been worth their relatively low cost, and
warrant their continuation with an increased level of mandatory funding.
Research Title
ASA supports reauthorization of the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative
(AFRI) to expand competitive research at USDA, as well as reauthorization to
maintain research capacity at our land-grant universities. Agricultural
research is the foundation of future competitiveness for not just U.S.
soybean production, but all of U.S. agriculture.
Trade Title
ASA supports reauthorization of the Foreign Market Development (Cooperator)
Program and the Market Access Program (MAP) and continued annual funding of
these export promotion programs at $34.5 million and $200 million,
respectively. We support continued funding of the Food for Peace Program
(Title 1 of P.L. 480) and the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program.
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