The establishment of an always-ready standing disaster assistance program was one of the major improvements of the New Farm Bill, attendees were told at a "No Bull" Farm Bill workshop here Thursday.
    This was one of the priorities National Farmers Union lobbied for, Katy Ziegler said during a preworkshop interview with the Tribune-Democrat.
    Ziegler, NFU vice president for government relations in Washington, D. C., was the featured speaker at the workshop.
    In the past, if a farmer sustained a weather-related disaster "you had to hope your neighbor sustained a loss too so you could apply — this did not make sense,"  Ziegler said.
    When told that U. S. Senator Ken Salazar, D - Colo., had praised the new farm bill as the best one ever passed, Zeigler agreed with the senator's assessment. She added that the senator was a major proponent for the bill.
    Ziegler said the farm bill was a big step forward, and it included some important innovations and reforms.
    This was accomplished despite a 60 percent reduction in money available for farm programs. The reductions were due to higher farm prices that were above target trends. This in turn lowered government subsidy requirements.
    She said the government saved $23 billion in the process.
    Despite the tighter budget, funding for soil conservation increased $7.9 billion.
    Another billion dollars was allocated to energy development in the farm sector.
    This funding will promote research that moves beyond corn-based ethanol, Zeigler told the Tribune-Democrat.
    She added that it is oil — and not  ethanol —  that is driving up retail food prices in this country.
    Ziegler noted that about 20 percent of a farmer's costs are associated with energy.
    Food distribution is also addressed by the new farm bill. It provides assistance in a new category, "horticulture and organics," which assists farmers in marketing directly to farmer markets, grocers and school districts.
    She said the industry is seeing a shift in both production and distribution.
    "Consumers are tired of having tasteless products. They do not want produce from across the country or across the world."
    She said starting Sept. 30 consumers will know where their meat, fresh fruits and vegetables and nuts are coming from. The place of origin will be on the label.
    "Seafood is already labeled. Consumer demand is asking for it."
    "There is more reform in this bill than ever before," she continued. Ziegler observed there was too much reform for some, and not enough for others.
    "Not everyone was happy."
    Caps were put in place for subsidies in the Title 1 program for grain crops such as corn and wheat.
    Eligibility was lowered to an adjusted gross income of $500,000 for non-farm producers and to $750,000 for farmers. And total payments are now limited to $40,000 in direct payments and $65,000 for counter-cyclical payments.
    One criticism in the past was that a farmer could create other entities to broaden the capture of farm payments. But now all payments will be linked to a single individual, and not to any entities that are created by an individual. This process is now called direct attribution.
    Even if a farmer has weather trouble with a crop this year, he will qualify for the new disaster assistance program, said Kent Peppler, a Mead farmer who is president of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union.
    "This will fill in the gaps and make farming much stronger," he commented.
    He also noted that area ranchers will benefit from the expanded soil conservation program. He added that ranchers have participated in cost share programs associated with conservation under previous farm bills.
    The expanded funding could have a big impact on the Lower Arkansas Valley, he said.
    He added that there is a new title in the farm bill for livestock.
    Ziegler said that was included in the reforms.
    "There were new players at the table and livestock producers were among them."
    Ziegler noted that four livestock packing houses now dominate the industry, and their market share continually grows.
    This gives their buyers inequitable power. Under the new farm bill, producers can void a contract within three days of receiving it. They can also decline mandatory arbitration and can take a buyer to court — which in the past was not allowed.
    For too long contracts have been one-sided in the buyer's favor, Ziegler said.
    She said another big issue for Colorado and surrounding states was that state-inspected packing houses could not ship product across state lines, as could federally-inspected packers like Hormel and Tyson. Yet, the state packing houses had to comply with the same standards as the federal government imposed.
    "This will take out anti-competitive barriers and should help producers get better prices," she predicted.
    Ken told the Tribune-Democrat:
    "We have a cheap food policy in this country which encourages over supply. The cattle and hog feeding industries have had the advantage of a situation that maintains low grain prices.
    "This farm bill, over all, is still a cheap food policy."
    He added that the farm bill overcame urban critics because 70 percent of its funding benefits consumers through nutrition programs. There was a $10 billion increase in the nutrition programs sponsored by the bill.
    "There is no excuse for anyone in the U. S. to be hungry." Peppler added that nutrition programs have overcome past inefficiencies and are now obtaining better prices.
    If the rest of the federal government was run as well as the farm program, we would be a better country, he said.
    The "No Bull" workshop has already held meetings in Greeley and Torrington, Wyo.
    Peppler said one issue that keeps coming up in Colorado is what will happen to the Conservation Reserve Program.  He said that is a question that is very difficult to answer.
    He said the farm bill also promotes programs for beginning farmers and young farmers who are trying to get established. In order to offset the decline of rural communities, he said, "we have to sustain the level of profitability."
    Noting that he farms near Mead, he does see a few more local farmers and he sees more food sold locally. And these farmers are also diversifying income with off-farm income sources.
    "They are farming smaller, doing it profitably and taking on other major responsibilities.:
    He noted that his wife is an assistant principal, while he is active in Farmers Union and also has rental properties in addition to working his 500-acre farm.   
    Sponsors of the No Bull Farm Bill workshops included Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Independent Bankers of Colorado, Colorado Sugar Beet Growers, Colorado Association of Conservation Districts and area Farmers Union agents.