Page 12—Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 16,1996
PHOENIX, Ariz. The
leader of the organization rep
resenting the nation’s com
growers urged the U.S. House
of Representatives to pass new
multiyear farm legislation.
Bill Northey, president of
the 28,500-member National
Com Growers Association,
(NCGA), told reporters attend
ing the Commodity Classic
convention the farm bill pro
cess “has dragged on long
enough.”
“Policies of the past do no
thing for today’s farmers ex
cept drive us from the farm
program and jeopardize the
progress we’ve made to con
serve soil and protect water,”
Northey said.
The NCGA leader said most
farmers favor the contract pay
ment mechanism contained in
the farm bill approved by the
U.S. Senate recently. But
Northey said the House can im
prove die Senate bill.
“We think the House can
Farmer Boy Ag Systems
Growers Urge Fast
Action On Farm Bill
make the bill even better.”
Northey told reporters. “The
contract payment .. . allows
flexibility, certainty and simp
licity. But we urge House
members to eliminate the cap
on loan rates to allow those
rates to reflect recent market
prices.”
The lowa corn grower
echoed the same position in a
letter to President Clinton re
cently. He asked the President
and Agriculture Secretary Dan
Glickman to work with Con
gress in order to adopt a policy
which allows com loan rates to
fluctuate. He said such a policy
provides a more effective farm
income safety net in years
when com prices drop.
Northey also discouraged
the President from limiting
planting flexibility. While
campaigning in lowa two
weeks ago. President Clinton
expressed a need to require
farmers to plant a crop as a
condition for farm program eli
gibility. Noithey said such a
requirement leads to .. addi
tional, burdensome paperwork
while accomplishing no legiti
mate agricultural policy.”
“If a planting requirement is
included... Congress will un
doubtedly begin asking for ex
emptions with the first crop
loss,” Northey said, noting
many lawmakers approved a
so-called “0/92” program in
the past. That program allowed
farmers to receive price sup
port payments on up to 92 per
cent of their program crop
acreage of they could not plant
or harvest a crop due to harsh
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“If this faim bill requires
fanners to produce a crop when
economics dictate otherwise, it
will sanction a cheap grain
policy,” the farm leader said.
The chairman of the NCGA
board of directors, Nebraska
farmer Rod Gangwish, and the
organization’s Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) Chris Wehr
man, plan to travel to Washing-
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ton from the convention in or
der to urge quick action in the
House on a new farm bill. The
NCGA held its policy-making
annual meeting in Phoenix
along with the American Soy
bean Association (ASA).
More than 3,600 farmers and
industry leaders registered to
attend the first-ever joint-con
vention of the two major U.S.
commodity organizations.
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