Benicia Herald - Thompson bill calls for ‘responsible farming’

Farm Bill legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, Benicia’s representative in the House, has passed the Senate and is expected to be signed into law, the Congressman said Tuesday.

His legislation, the bipartisan Crop Insurance Accountability Act of 2013, co-authored by U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., has become part of the compromise long-term reauthorization of the Farm Bill, Thompson said.

He described the legislation as enhancing conservation by providing incentives for “responsible farming” practices by requiring farmers to qualify for taxpayer subsidies of crop insurance by meeting basic conservation requirements that reduce impacts to wetlands and lands vulnerable to erosion.

“This new law will achieve two important goals,” Thompson said. “American farmers will continue having a strong and reliable crop insurance safety net, and our most sensitive lands will be protected and conserved.”

He called it “an excellent example of what we can accomplish if we work across the aisle to achieve common goals.”

He said farmers would be assured that they are protected, and vulnerable lands would be protected as well.

The Crop Insurance Accountability Act applies to annually tilled crops grown on highly erodible lands, or any crops grown in wetlands, as determined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Thompson said.

It requires farmers to file conservation plans with that department, explaining how they’ll reduce and offset any impacts to the vulnerable lands. Farmers must be in compliance with their USDA-approved plans if they are to get federal subsidies for crop insurance premiums.

The legislation delays the date by which food producers must come into compliance if they are required to be in conservation compliance for the first time for five years.

It will let farmers exhaust their appeal processes before those farmers are found to be out of compliance, and provides exemptions for circumstances that either are beyond the farmers’ control or result from actions taken in good faith.

Farmers still have the choice not to pursue conservation compliance, and aren’t prevented from buying insurance even if they are found out of compliance. However, they would be responsible for 100 percent of the insurance premium in those cases.

“Currently, crop insurance for farmers is subsidized by an average of 62 percent,” Thompson said. “The Crop Insurance Accountability Act would require farmers to meet a certain conservation compliance standard to continue qualifying for subsidized crop insurance.

Since the 1985 Farm Bill was enacted, some form of conservation compliance has been required for participation in many farm bill programs, Thompson said.

The 1996 Farm Bill made some changes, disconnecting conservation compliance from crop insurance premium subsidies and tying it instead to the direct or fixed payments farmers receive every year based on their land’s production history.

The latest edition of the Farm Bill that passed the House essentially eliminated direct payments, Thompson said.

In doing so, the bill also ended conservation compliance requirements for many of those crops and lands.

“The Crop Insurance Accountability Act re-links conservation compliance measures to crop insurance premium subsidies,” Thompson said.

Thompson and Fortenberry originally introduced the Crop Insurance Accountability Act on June 5, 2013.

It has been supported by the American Farm Bureau Federation, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Defenders of Wildlife, Ducks Unlimited, Environmental Defense Fund, Environmental Working Group, League of Conservation Voters, National Audubon Society, National Association of State Conservation Agencies, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, National Wildlife Federation, Pheasants Forever, The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund.

The Farm Bill — more formally H.R. 2642, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 — passed the House on Jan. 29 by a bipartisan vote of 251-166.

It passed the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 68-32 and is expected to be signed into law shortly by President Barack Obama.