Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said this week that the United States is at risk of losing its position as the preeminent exporter of corn, soybeans, and other commodities unless Congress moves quickly to pass a farm bill. “We’re in a global marketplace and whatever advantages we have can disappear pretty quickly because other countries have extraordinary opportunities,” Vilsack said in an interview from Brazil where he is meeting with agricultural officials this week. “If our Congress and House of Representatives can’t pass a farm bill, the message that sends to the rest of the world is we can be caught,” he said. The current farm bill expires September 30.
Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran (R-MS) backed Vilsack’s renewed call for Congress to pass the farm bill. “The United States will cease paying a $147 million annual settlement to Brazil that is part of a long-running trade dispute over cotton subsidies,” Vilsack said, because he does not have authority to continue the cotton payments beyond October 1 without a farm bill. “This situation is another reason why a new farm bill needs to be passed as soon as possible,” Cochran said. Stopping the payments could prompt Brazil to threaten retaliation.
Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) will not name conferees until the House comes back into session in September and a decision has been made whether to bring up a nutrition bill that would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously called the food stamp program, by $40 billion over 10 years.
