Last month, we told you about how the U.S. Senate had trimmed the number of amendments in the Senate Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012, better known as the Farm Bill, from 300 down to 73. Today, the debate moved to the House, as the House Agriculture Committee was adding and subtracting the lower chamber’s own amendments (about 100 so far) to the overall legislation, which members there have named the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act or FARRM.
The first amendment to come up would have made major changes to the dairy program and eliminated the market stabilization program for milk pricing in the current Senate version of the Farm Bill. Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia) and David Scott (D-Georgia) proposed a safety net for dairy producers without requiring them to participate in a supply management program.
Goodlatte argued that their amendment is more in line with the overall Farm Bill making its way through Congress and would actually provide more support for smaller family dairy farms. Scott, the co-sponsor on the amendment, said the main point is that it would keep milk and dairy products affordable for consumers. “The stabilization program that our amendment would take out would artificially reduce the supply of milk throughout this country, thereby, increasing milk and dairy product prices for consumers,” he said, adding that economic times are too tough to do this. Read More
