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Harkin pays visit to tout farm bill

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By Tom Saul | Sunday, May 4, 2008 12:17 PM CDT | () comments

With a presidential veto looming, a new farm bill represents the best compromise for growers, land conservation and nutrition for the poor, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said during a stop in Davenport Saturday.

Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said he has spent months helping to craft the bill and build support. He spent the day barnstorming the state in anticipation of votes in the U.S. House and Senate.

“If there is a veto, we will try to override,” Harkin told a handful of people present at Davenport’s Fairmount Street library branch. “Will we have the votes? I don’t know. That is where all the compromising has come in.”

The multi-billion dollar bill is an improvement over the current farm bill in several critical ways, Harkin said.

On price supports for commodities, farmers can opt to receive federal subsidies or use a new state price protection system, Harkin said. A feature of the new bill will allow taxpayers to find out what each farmer receives. Now, those figures can be obscured.

Nutrition programs for low income people will be indexed to keep up with rising costs and more money will be available to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for children. In the future, Harkin said he also plans to hold hearings aimed at limiting what can be purchased with food stamps, which are now loaded on what amounts to a plastic debit card.

Many poor people in federal food programs have chronic health problems related to poor diet, Harkin said, mainly because they are allowed to buy too much sugary or starchy food.

“Now, the only thing they can’t buy are prepared meals,” Harkin said. “Other than that, they can buy every candy bar, every Twinkie and every container of soda pop. We have to do something to deal with the health consequences of that.”

The bill also includes more emphasis on better stewardship and conservation of land and investment in biomass energy production that will spur growth of cellulose-based crops, Harkin said.

“As a result, I think you’ll see a lot of cellulose plants go into production,” Harkin said, “Not tomorrow, but in the next five years. You’ll also see more money for cellulose research.”

Tom Saul can be contacted at (563) 383-2453 or tsaul@qctimes.com.