AUSTIN - Farmers and ranchers could soon be looking harder at forage production as biomass crops become more lucrative and sought after by new biofuel plants popping up across the U.S.
What U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., doesn’t want to see happen are plants ready to go on line with no product to be found.
“If we don’t get feed stocks started now, these plants are going to be built and people are going to be looking for material with no (place) to go,” said Peterson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee at the 2007 Ag Forum Friday in Austin.
As work continues on a new farm bill that looks to weigh heavily on energy and conservation, some of the most traditional practices on the nation’s farms could be changing, he said.
“I tell my people at home instead of growing sugarbeets, you might be growing switchgrass,” Peterson said. “This (renewable energy) is the most exciting thing that has ever happened in my lifetime in agriculture.”
To help illustrate the opportunity that awaits agricultural producers, Peterson described recent equity offerings for new ethanol plants in his home state.
“When we have an equity drive, we have farmers being the first in line, camping out so they can buy stock,” he said.
Government getting more involved in biofuel plants’ financing wouldn’t be in the best interest of agriculture, Peterson said.
“I’m not a big fan of government getting too involved and making it harder for these equity drives,” he said. “There are a lot of bills out there that would do more harm than good, but we’ll have to sort through that.”
Biofuel production and conservation programs are a few key components of the new farm bill legislators hope will delivered to President Bush by September. However, though farm government spending is far below 2002 levels, Peterson said the current food stamp program is taking chunks of money away.
The debit card system has made the system more efficient and cut down on fraud and abuse, he said. However, it’s also expensive.
“Food stamps are 67 percent of what we are going to spend,” he said. “In the old days, we got a lot of urban support. Now (the program has) become kind of an entitlement.”
Though conservation will be another key component of new farm legislation, it’s set to take a 30 percent cut in funding, Peterson said, but those cuts could be restored.
“There’s going to be quite a bit of interest in new spending,” he said. “One thing that would be helpful is if we can get people in Texas, whether in agriculture or not, to support us to get extra resources for the ag committee to support the farm bill.” For other new programs to be funded, the agriculture committee is being asked to look at cutting other programs, Peterson said.
“Americans want us to pay our bills and be fiscally responsible,” he said. “We’re not complaining. But in order for us to get more money, it’s what you can give up.”
Meanwhile, the outlook for grain farms is the best since fall of 1995, while cotton and rice will still show red, said Dr. James Richardson, co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University.
The outlook on future farm policy is that fruits and vegetables will get subsidies of some kind and more emphasis will be placed on renewable fuels research.
“Don’t discount the emphasis of conservation in the next farm bill,” he said.
“It’s very likely” that many of the same programs will be in the 2007 Farm Bill “not because that’s what everyone wants, but because it may the best safety net we can afford,” he said.
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