Agricultural News
Farmland Trust Leader Optimistic Congress Can Move Farm Bill Forward During Lame Duck Session
Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:54:03 CST
Washington, D.C., seems set for business as usual following the outcome of last week's general elections. President Barack Obama remains in the White House. The Senate remains in Democrat hands and the House remains under Republican control. That particular equation set the stage for four years of gridlock, a stalled farm bill, and the spectre of a fiscal cliff. For Jon Scholl, president of the American Farmland Trust, that is a cause for concern.
Scholl recently spoke with Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays about those concerns. He said business as usual is not acceptable if farmers and ranchers are to be able to feed 10 billion people by the middle of this century. (You can hear their full conversation by clicking on the LISTEN BAR at the bottom of this article.)
"Obviously, we really have a number of issues we need to have action on. The farm bill is certainly the top of the list of our priorities, but there's an awful lot of uncertainty with the tax and budget issues as well when it comes to the issue of estate tax, for instance. They really have a definite impact in terms of how people hold land-land that's transferred from one generation to the next-and being forced to sell in order to pay the estate tax burden. So, there's a number of issues that we just can't afford to have status quo. We've got to get some action."
The American Farmland Trust works with federal, state, and local leaders to promote the economic viability and health of the American farm. Uncertainty when it comes to farm policy, Scholl said, makes it very difficult to support farmers, conserve farmland, and protect natural resources. Despite the difficulties, Scholl said he's more optimistic than most that the lame duck Congress can take positive action during the lame duck session.
"I think we've already got an awful lot of work done on the farm bill-passed out of the Senate, passed out of the House ag committee-that we've got a minimum of $23 billion in cuts that are being made to farm programs. And I think when you look at what the priority of Congress is going to be over the next couple of months, getting some sort of tax and budget deal, that's going to be awfully hard to resist not picking that up, including the farm bill provisions, and take credit for those cuts in a broader package."
He said he thinks there will be lawmakers who want to cut agriculture funding more deeply than $23 billion contained in the 2012 bill. That is one of the reasons, Scholl said, the bill is currently stalled in the House. He said the house needs to have a floor vote on the bill as soon as possible because budget pressures are only going to increase going forward.
He said he is pleased that the House and Senate versions of the bill are in agreement over the conservation programs, including their simplification and consolidation. Scholl said the American Farmland Trust supports those provisions in the new bill.
"The consolidation of programs is being done in a responsible manner which we are very pleased with. There's a lot of focus on strategic conservation. We know we don't have money to solve every problem, but let's make sure we're solving the biggest ones first."
He said his organization is very concerned that, if not addressed in the lame duck, another issue, the estate tax, will cause serious damage.
"If Congress doesn't act, the exemption is going to go from $5 million down to $1 million. The tax rate's going to go from 35 percent to 55 percent. If that happens, what that does when people have an estate is force the sale of land. And, quite often, that land is sold to the highest bidder which, unfortunately, is not an agricultural use that that land ends up under. So, we get very concerned about maintaining an estate tax policy that doesn't create so much of an incentive to have to sell land to pay the tax."
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear Ron Hays' full interview with Jon Scholl of the American Farmland Trust.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
