BISMARCK, N.D. -- Recent comments on the new farm bill agreement clearly show the Bush administration's disconnect with the nation's farmers, ranchers and agricultural industries, as well as a profound lack of understanding of agricultural policy.
Most disturbing is the criticism of the permanent disaster program, one of the most valuable safety-net components of the legislation. No less than Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer called the permanent disaster program "a return to outdated farm policy and questions the government's investment in crop insurance."
That is untrue and completely contrary to the program's design and intent. The disaster program is, in fact, new policy that predictably provides disaster assistance to producers who truly need it, when they need it. The individual targeting of assistance also will cost taxpayers less than broader-based emergency programs of the past.
Early on, the administration acknowledged the need to supplement federal crop insurance by including a "GAP" insurance provision in its farm bill proposal. Now, they have the audacity to claim the well-constructed disaster program included by Congress "questions the government's investment in crop insurance." Nothing could be further from the truth.
Framework
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The disaster program framework, developed in North Dakota:
-?Requires federal crop insurance participation.
-?Encourages higher insurance levels.
-?Targets qualifying disaster losses.;
-?Includes livestock assistance.
-Ensures predictable and timely assistance.
-?Maintains program integrity through crop insurance program integration and whole-farm revenue design.
I brought this framework to my fellow members of at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, who unanimously adopted it as policy and included it in their farm bill recommendations.
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It was the administration's plan with its reliance on emergency ad-hoc disaster assistance that is the failed and outdated farm policy. The last ad-hoc disaster program took three years to pass and implement -- far too late for those who needed the assistance most. It is not good policy for producers or taxpayers.
Congress should be commended for including the permanent disaster program in the farm bill, which the administration should recognize as positive and reform-based legislation.
Editor's Note: Johnson is the North Dakota agriculture commissioner.
