In preparing its 2007 farm bill proposal, Farm Bureau was guided by several key principles. As a general farm organization, the overriding goal of Farm Bureau’s proposal is to maintain balance and benefit all of the farm sectors, while remaining within the budget constraints Congress must use to draft the new law.

Following is a summary of the key principles underlying Farm Bureau’s proposal:

• The proposal is fiscally responsible. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline for agriculture programs in the farm bill in 2008-2013, potentially the six-year span of the next farm bill, is less than 50 percent of what Congress committed to spend in the 2002 farm bill. Yet the goals for the farm bill continue to grow. Our proposal addresses this by proposing offsets for all funding increases within a title. For example, our proposal offsets a $250 million annual increase in conservation funding for fruit and vegetable producers by capping spending on the Conservation Security Program (CSP) in 2016 and 2017.

• The basic structure of the 2002 farm bill should not be altered. Farm Bureau’s proposal for the 2007 farm bill maintains the baseline balance between programs. For example, we support strong conservation programs, but adequate conservation funding should not come at the expense of adequate funding for commodity programs. Our proposal does not shift any funding from title to title.

• The proposal benefits all of the sectors. Farm Bureau is a general farm organization, with members who produce everything from apples to peanuts. It’s easy for a commodity group to say Congress should allocate more funding for programs that benefit its producers, without worrying about whether that will take funds away from producers of other commodities. Farm Bureau’s proposal seeks balance for all producers.

• World trade rulings are considered. The Farm Bureau proposal includes changes to comply with our existing agreement obligations and World Trade Organization (WTO) litigation rulings, but it does not presuppose the outcome of the Doha round of WTO negotiations, which are far from complete. Farm Bureau supported last year’s reforms of export credit and food aid programs, and elimination of the “Step 2” cotton program. Our proposal includes elimination of the prohibition on planting fruits and vegetables on farm program crop acreage. However, it also maintains U.S. negotiating leverage in the ongoing Doha round by continuing strong domestic support for agriculture until a WTO agreement is reached that increases foreign market access for U.S. farmers and ranchers.