Farm Bill on Senate Floor Next Week -
Please call your Senators!

• BROWN- The amendment includes important programs to farmers and local food infrastructure,  beginning and socially disadvantaged farmer programs, including: Value-Added Producer Grants, Rural Microentrepeneur Assistance Program, Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Program (Section 2501) (1)

• Gillibrand - This amendment restores the $4.49 billion cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). (Cuts made in the Committee Bill that is going to the Senate floor) The SNAP funding would be paid for by a cut to the amount the federal government pays to insurance companies to provide crop insurance to farmers. Gillibrand’s amendment will also provide an additional $500 million over 10 years to the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP). This program provides fresh produce snacks to schoolchildren. The bill also grants authority to USDA to make bonus purchases for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) has submitted an amendment that would eliminate the fresh-only requirement in the FFVP by expanding this program to include frozen, dried, or canned fruits and vegetables. (2)

• TESTER - This amendment will set aside 5% of annual funding for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative for public cultivar and breed development. (2)

• GRASSLEY-CONRAD - This amendment will make it unlawful for a meatpacker to own, feed or control livestock intended for slaughter for more than 14 days before slaughter. This will reduce vertical integration of the livestock market and help independent and family growers compete. (5)

• MERKLEY - This amendment will address barriers to make crop insurance more accessible to organic farmers. (5)

• Leahy - an amendment which would allow states to use 15% of the value of their annual TEFAP commodity allocation to purchase local food. (2)

• Other Crop insurance amendments:  Durbin-Coburn - reduces the federal premium support for farmers with Adjusted Gross Income of more than $750,000.  Cardin - amendment that attaches conservation compliance rules to the purchase of crop insurance.

• Hold the Line on Farm Bill Conservation Funding-  The bill introduced by the Senate Agriculture Committee includes significant cuts to conservation funding.  Conservation programs have already contributed to the deficit reduction and the Senate bill includes $23 billion in overall cuts to mandatory spending, including over $6 billion to conservation programs. Any further cuts to conservation will undermine the conservation efforts that have been carefully designed in light of the need for budget reductions. (3)

• Provide mandatory resources to the Rural Cooperative Development Grants Program and the Value Added Producer Grant program.   Both of these programs are essential to ensuring that farmers and fishermen are able to work together to capture a greater share of the consumer food dollar. (4)