With Farm Bill, Corn Growers Have Another Cause for Celebration in D.C. (5-23-08)

When the 2008 farm bill became law this week, U.S. corn growers celebrated the enactment of a third piece of federal legislation that will go far in promoting opportunity and protecting rural economies. According to the National Corn Growers Association, when you consider this vote along with the passage of the waterways bill and the energy bill late last year, it’s been a very successful congressional session for growers.

“We’re thankful that our members made the calls and connections necessary to get these crucial bills passed,” said NCGA President Ron Litterer. “Getting a bill to the president’s desk can take years of hard work, and we could not have gotten these three bills passed without our members’ help.”

Litterer said that the Water Resources Development Act, which passed in November despite a presidential veto, authorizes funding for crucial lock and dam improvements on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. NCGA is now working on funding for projects important to farmers. In December, the new energy bill made corn ethanol the centerpiece of the renewable fuels standard to help provide energy security, Litterer said. This bill would not have gone far without the president’s strong support.

This week, the House and Senate votes were 316-108 and 82-13, respectively, to pass the farm bill, which includes one program particularly sought by NCGA, the optional Average Crop Revenue Election program. ACRE is designed to be a market-based state-level revenue program that provides producers an alternative safety net for more targeted protection against today’s more volatile markets, rising input costs and weather related crop losses.

The waterways act and the farm bill were a special challenge because they required overriding the president’s veto, Litterer said. Of the 2,556 presidential vetoes in U.S. history, only 107, or about 4 percent, have been overridden.