H.R. 2419, the Farm Bill Extension Act of 2007
Legislative Summary
July 24, 2007
North Carolina Farm Bureau support H.R. 2419, the Farm Bill Extension Act of 2007, which was approved by the U.S. House Agriculture Committee last Thursday by a voice vote. H.R. 2419 is expected to be considered in the House on Thursday, July 26th. The following talking points provide a brief overview of the bill’s major provisions.
Commodity Title
H.R. 2419 maintains the basic structure of the Farm Bill’s Commodity Title, including direct, counter-cyclical, loan deficiency payments, and marketing loans.
Payment Limits
Establishes a $1 million Adjusted Gross Income payment limit. Any producer who has an AGI over $1 million is ineligible for any farm program payment. The AGI is averaged based on the three previous tax years.
Producers who have an AGI over $500,000 to $999,999 must prove they receive 67% or more of their income from agriculture or forestry activities to participate in farm programs.
The three-entity rule is eliminated.
Total payment cap for direct and counter-cyclical payment for an individual farmer is reduced to $125,000.
Peanut payment limits are kept the same as current law.
Note: These payment limit changes were necessary to secure the support of the House Democratic Leadership for the overall package.
Commodity Title spending accounts for only about 13% of the bill’s total spending.
Fruits and Vegetables
Fruit and Vegetable producers for the first time will receive approximately $1.6 billion mandatory funding for Specialty Crop Block Grants, nutrition programs, conservation, research, and trade initiatives. Mandatory money is guaranteed funding for a specific initiative.
The fruit and vegetable planting prohibition is reauthorized in the bill.
Conservation
The bill extends and expands several important conservation initiatives, including the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Environmental Quality and Improvement Program (EQIP), the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, just to name a few.
Energy
The bill provides funding for USDA loan guarantees to construct bio-refineries.
It also increases funding for the Bioenergy Program, which offers production incentives for increases in production of ethanol and biodiesel made from crops, forestry materials, and waste products like animal manure.
The bill also creates a $75 million program to research the development of ethanol from woody biomass.
Farm Credit
The bill would increase the lending authority of Farm Credit and authorize loans for conservation projects.
Trade
The bill increases funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) and would lift the current law prohibition on MAP funds being used for overseas tobacco marketing.
Research
The bill would streamline the distribution of agriculture research dollars.
Rural Development
The bill would reauthorize funding for water and sewer infrastructure improvements.
It would also improve rural access to broadband technology through several initiatives.
Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling
The bill would require mandatory County of Origin Labeling for meat products. Under the bill, meat would be labeled in three categories:
- Exclusively Born, Raised and Slaughtered in the U.S.
- Partially born, raised, or slaughtered in the U.S. This would include an animal that was born in a foreign country, but brought to the U.S. later.
- Not born raised, or slaughtered in the U.S.
The bill would require labeling for ground beef that discloses a list of all of the countries from which the ground beef could have been derived.
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