Pingree, Stabenow, Humane Society, NSAC, United Fresh weigh in on Ag Approps
June 19, 2015 |07:48 PM
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., the Humane Society of the United States, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and the United Fresh Produce Association all issued statements Thursday on the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee’s approval of the fiscal year 2016 Agriculture appropriations bill.
Pingree, a member of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, praised the subcommittee for not including a provision from previous years that forbids the Agriculture Department from enforcing a provision in the 2008 farm bill that is intended to protect contract farmers who raise chickens for large-scale processors from retaliation if they speak out about mistreatment and abuse. The provision has been known as the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rider.
Last month, TV comedian John Oliver broadcast a segment criticizing the practice of retaliating against chicken farmers and criticizing Congress for blocking them from being protected, Pingree noted. Since then his video has been viewed nearly 3 million times, she added.
“John Oliver took a complicated issue and explained it in terms that everyone could understand,” Pingree said.
“He added a little humor and a fair amount of outrage and the result was a video that had a big impact on this issue. He really shined a light on what is happening to these contract farmers and how some members of Congress are preventing them from exercising their basic rights.”
Pingree also praised Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and a former member of the Agriculture Subcommittee, for leading the fight to protect contract farmers.
“Congresswoman Kaptur has been absolutely tireless in sticking up for these farmers and she deserves a lot of credit for what happened today,” Pingree said.
“Poultry farmers today suffer untold abuses at the hands of the contract poultry industry,” Kaptur said in the Pingree news release.
“These abuses are illegal and unconstitutional, but today’s subcommittee vote shows that our First Amendment can still shine a light on such dark practices,” she said.
“Today's vote brings us a step closer to protecting the rights of farmers to speak, assemble, and petition their government,” Kaptur said.
Stabenow, who chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee when the 2014 farm bill was written, said “This bill shortchanges American agriculture, business owners, rural communities, and families by re-opening the farm bill to additional cuts,” ranking member Stabenow said.
“This bill also undoes important reforms that help save tax dollars, like limiting farm payments and connecting better conservation practices to crop insurance, while making cuts that only weaken our economy.”
“It also takes millions of dollars away from programs that provide food and basic support to nursing mothers and infants while also ignoring the health and wellbeing of our nation’s school children. This bill even slashes funding to the very program that helps grow our biobased economy which supports four million American jobs and adds $369 billion to our economy. House Republicans clearly struck out on this bill and did so at the expense of our nation’s farmers, families, and communities.”
The Humane Society praised the appropriators for a provision that prevents USDA’s Agricultural Research Service from receiving 5 percent of its appropriations ($56 million in federal funding) until ARS certifies in writing to both the House and the Senate that updates to its animal care policies have been implemented.
“The legislation also requires that each ARS facility using animals has a properly functioning Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, including “all appropriate and necessary record keeping,” the Humane Society noted.
The subcommittee added funds to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for the agency to provide oversight of ARS’ animal research locations.
“By linking significant funding to animal welfare reforms, Congress sends a strong message to the USDA that animal abuse at federal research facilities will not be tolerated,” said Humane Society President and CEO Wayne Pacelle. “The public has a particularly keen interest in rooting out the mistreatment of animals at facilities funded by our tax dollars."
The Humane Society noted that the provisions follow an exposé by The New York Times in January of conditions at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, an ARS facility located in Clay, Neb., that was carrying out research in pursuit of increasing profits from livestock raising.
“NSAC strongly opposes the end-run around farm program payment limitations inserted into the House Agriculture Appropriations bill,” Ferd Hoefner, the NSAC policy director, said in an email late Thursday.
“The measure, with a price tag of over $50 million, would bring back marketing loan commodity certificates, a feature of farm programs that ended in 2009,” Hoefner said.
“The kicker is it would also direct USDA to apply farm law as it existed in 2008, when marketing loan gains were not subject to payment limits, rather than the law as it exists post-2014 farm bill that makes all forms of payments and gains subject to the payment limit.
“Certificates are paid in-kind or redeemed for cash and are thus the equivalent of other forms of marketing loan gains and loan-related payments that are subject to the $125,000 ($250,000 for married couples) payment limit in the current farm bill. The provision in the House bill reported out of subcommittee today is a blatant end-run around the 2014 farm bill and should be rejected by the full House Appropriations Committee.”
NSAC in an earlier statement criticized the subcommittee for delaying conservation compliance for one year, but the United Fresh Produce Association on Thursday thanked the committee for delaying the penalty enforcement provisions for conservation compliance requirements.
“By delaying implementation of these requirements, fruit and vegetable producers will likely save millions of dollars in crop insurance premium subsidies while continuing to be able to utilize effective crop insurance products as an effective risk management tool,” United Fresh President and CEO Tom Stenzel said in an email.
Stenzel also thanked the committee for maintaining fruit and vegetable provisions under the 2010 Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act.
“This is an important step to acknowledge the critical importance of increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in schools to help our children learn to begin a lifetime of healthy eating,” Stenzel said.
The School Nutrition Association, which represents school food service directors and the companies that make school foods, has called on Congress to end the requirement that children take a half-cup of fruits and vegetables with each school meal.
Pingree on contract growers
Pingree, a member of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, praised the subcommittee for not including a provision from previous years that forbids the Agriculture Department from enforcing a provision in the 2008 farm bill that is intended to protect contract farmers who raise chickens for large-scale processors from retaliation if they speak out about mistreatment and abuse. The provision has been known as the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rider.
Last month, TV comedian John Oliver broadcast a segment criticizing the practice of retaliating against chicken farmers and criticizing Congress for blocking them from being protected, Pingree noted. Since then his video has been viewed nearly 3 million times, she added.
“John Oliver took a complicated issue and explained it in terms that everyone could understand,” Pingree said.
“He added a little humor and a fair amount of outrage and the result was a video that had a big impact on this issue. He really shined a light on what is happening to these contract farmers and how some members of Congress are preventing them from exercising their basic rights.”
Pingree also praised Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and a former member of the Agriculture Subcommittee, for leading the fight to protect contract farmers.
“Congresswoman Kaptur has been absolutely tireless in sticking up for these farmers and she deserves a lot of credit for what happened today,” Pingree said.
“Poultry farmers today suffer untold abuses at the hands of the contract poultry industry,” Kaptur said in the Pingree news release.
“These abuses are illegal and unconstitutional, but today’s subcommittee vote shows that our First Amendment can still shine a light on such dark practices,” she said.
“Today's vote brings us a step closer to protecting the rights of farmers to speak, assemble, and petition their government,” Kaptur said.
Stabenow on reopening farm bill
Stabenow, who chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee when the 2014 farm bill was written, said “This bill shortchanges American agriculture, business owners, rural communities, and families by re-opening the farm bill to additional cuts,” ranking member Stabenow said.
“This bill also undoes important reforms that help save tax dollars, like limiting farm payments and connecting better conservation practices to crop insurance, while making cuts that only weaken our economy.”
“It also takes millions of dollars away from programs that provide food and basic support to nursing mothers and infants while also ignoring the health and wellbeing of our nation’s school children. This bill even slashes funding to the very program that helps grow our biobased economy which supports four million American jobs and adds $369 billion to our economy. House Republicans clearly struck out on this bill and did so at the expense of our nation’s farmers, families, and communities.”
Humane Society on animal welfare provisions
The Humane Society praised the appropriators for a provision that prevents USDA’s Agricultural Research Service from receiving 5 percent of its appropriations ($56 million in federal funding) until ARS certifies in writing to both the House and the Senate that updates to its animal care policies have been implemented.
“The legislation also requires that each ARS facility using animals has a properly functioning Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, including “all appropriate and necessary record keeping,” the Humane Society noted.
The subcommittee added funds to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for the agency to provide oversight of ARS’ animal research locations.
“By linking significant funding to animal welfare reforms, Congress sends a strong message to the USDA that animal abuse at federal research facilities will not be tolerated,” said Humane Society President and CEO Wayne Pacelle. “The public has a particularly keen interest in rooting out the mistreatment of animals at facilities funded by our tax dollars."
The Humane Society noted that the provisions follow an exposé by The New York Times in January of conditions at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, an ARS facility located in Clay, Neb., that was carrying out research in pursuit of increasing profits from livestock raising.
NSAC on payment limits
“NSAC strongly opposes the end-run around farm program payment limitations inserted into the House Agriculture Appropriations bill,” Ferd Hoefner, the NSAC policy director, said in an email late Thursday.
“The measure, with a price tag of over $50 million, would bring back marketing loan commodity certificates, a feature of farm programs that ended in 2009,” Hoefner said.
“The kicker is it would also direct USDA to apply farm law as it existed in 2008, when marketing loan gains were not subject to payment limits, rather than the law as it exists post-2014 farm bill that makes all forms of payments and gains subject to the payment limit.
“Certificates are paid in-kind or redeemed for cash and are thus the equivalent of other forms of marketing loan gains and loan-related payments that are subject to the $125,000 ($250,000 for married couples) payment limit in the current farm bill. The provision in the House bill reported out of subcommittee today is a blatant end-run around the 2014 farm bill and should be rejected by the full House Appropriations Committee.”
United Fresh on conservation compliance
NSAC in an earlier statement criticized the subcommittee for delaying conservation compliance for one year, but the United Fresh Produce Association on Thursday thanked the committee for delaying the penalty enforcement provisions for conservation compliance requirements.
“By delaying implementation of these requirements, fruit and vegetable producers will likely save millions of dollars in crop insurance premium subsidies while continuing to be able to utilize effective crop insurance products as an effective risk management tool,” United Fresh President and CEO Tom Stenzel said in an email.
Stenzel also thanked the committee for maintaining fruit and vegetable provisions under the 2010 Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act.
“This is an important step to acknowledge the critical importance of increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in schools to help our children learn to begin a lifetime of healthy eating,” Stenzel said.
The School Nutrition Association, which represents school food service directors and the companies that make school foods, has called on Congress to end the requirement that children take a half-cup of fruits and vegetables with each school meal.
