Harkin: Farm bill now will focus on renewable energy

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By Charlotte Eby | Saturday, November 11, 2006 1:03 AM CST | () comments

DES MOINES — U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin predicts the upcoming farm bill will put a greater emphasis on renewable energy, biomass production and conservation and less on subsidy payments to farmers.

With Democrats capturing the majority in the U.S. Senate this week, Iowa’s junior senator could take over once again as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee as a new farm bill is being drafted.

Harkin, D-Cumming, shepherded the last farm bill as chairman of the agriculture committee in 2002. Although he said it is not a foregone conclusion he’ll assume chairmanship of the committee once again, he already has ideas of how he wants to shape the legislation.

“We have to make changes,” Harkin said. “The times have changed; conditions have changed, a lot of things have changed.”

Much will depend on how much money is allocated for farm programs, he said, predicting the budget will be tight as lawmakers work to reduce the national debt.

He expects there will be pressure to streamline the subsidy system, along with more stringent caps on subsidies. But he predicts the changes will not be earth-shattering for farmers who currently receive subsidies.

“I’ll be the last person to pull the rug out from underneath our established farmers,” Harkin said. “They can’t have that done. If there’s a transition, it’s got to be a smooth transition.”

Harkin hopes incentives to farmers who embrace biomass will help kick-start an investment in crops such as switchgrass that can be turned into cellulosic ethanol.

Although farmers and researchers have touted the benefits of switchgrass and other biomass crops, a strong market for them does not yet exist.

“You’ve got a chicken-and-egg thing here now,” Harkin said.

He wants to boost conservation practices for land in production to reduce topsoil runoff and pollution beyond the Conservation Reserve Program. The program takes highly erodible land out of production and creates buffer strips between fields and waterways.

“CRP has done a wonderful job of providing cleaner water, and it’s done a lot for wetlands, and it’s done a lot for wildfowl,” Harkin said.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, who serves on the House Agriculture Committee, can find many areas of common ground with Harkin on the farm bill when regional alliances are more important than partisan ones.

“The question then would be how much money do I want to spend versus how much money does Sen. Harkin want to spend,” King said.

King agrees that a greater emphasis has to be on conservation as direct subsidies to farmers diminish.

“In the end, we have to maintain the productivity of our soil,” King said.

Charlotte Eby can be contacted at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com.