What to expect from Congress in 2007

Dec 25, 2006 9:31 PM

From P. Scott Shearer, Washington, D.C.,correspondent

Congress left a number of issues important to ag for the 110th Congress to deal with. Those include:

Manure clarification -- Congress failed to pass legislation clarifying that manure is not a hazardous substance or pollutant under Superfund laws. A number of ag groups are concerned that, without clarification, manure as fertilizer on farms could be prohibited.

Dust and soot -- Sen. Chuck Grassley's (R-IA) legislation to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing Clean Air Act rules on ag for dust and soot wasn't adopted.

Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) -- Congress failed to complete conference committee deliberations on WRDA legislation that would modernize the lock and dam systems on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, which are more than 60 years old. This is a priority of the National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, Midwest Area Rivers Coalition (MARC 2000), and American Farm Bureau Federation. This is a critical issue to keep American ag competitive in the world market.

Also for 2007, Sen. Chuck Grassley announced his plans to press for more competition in ag during the upcoming farm bill debate. He plans to introduce several pieces of legislation early next year that will outline his plans for the farm bill. Grassley says they include:

Ban on packer ownership of livestock. This would prevent meatpackers from assuming complete control of the meat supply by preventing packers from owning livestock.

Limit on mandatory arbitration agreements. This would be similar to previous legislation Grassley introduced that amended the Packers and Stockyards Act to prohibit mandatory arbitration clauses from being included in contracts between livestock producers and packers.

Review of agribusiness mergers. This would change the way the Justice Department reviews agribusiness mergers. It would also enhance USDA's ability to address anti-competitive activity in the industry.

Grassley says, "Concentration is one of the most important issues in ag today. Vertical integration leaves the independent producer with even fewer choices of who to buy from and sell to. And it hurts the ability of farmers to get a fair price for their products."

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