Bush farm policy touted

A leading U.S. Department of Agriculture official urged California farmers and industry leaders Friday to back the Bush administration's farm bill plans, even as lawmakers on Capitol Hill debate costlier versions of the multi-billion- dollar legislation.

Mark Rey, the USDA's undersecretary of natural resources and the environment, said he does not want to see lawmakers revert to policies adopted in 2002, the last time Congress reauthorized the bill.

"My fear is that the default position becomes simply extending the 2002 bill," Rey said, after addressing 175 people at the Sheraton Sonoma Hotel for a statewide agricultural leaders conference. "That would not be good for California agriculture."

The competing 2007 proposals for the first time provide between $1.6 billion to $2 billion over five years to specialty-crop growers, including California's fruit, nut and vegetable producers.

But Congress is offering those growers a small slice of a $286 billion measure that would keep subsidizing major crops, including corn, soybeans, cotton and rice -- a long-standing practice that critics want to curtail in favor of land conservation, deficit reduction, and research and market expansion for niche crops.

Without ending subsidies entirely, the Bush administration would adopt changes that include eliminating subsidies to the 35,000 wealthiest farmers in the country, those who earn adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 or more.

"They're among the wealthiest 2 percent of the American taxpaying public," Rey said. "They've graduated from the need for farm payments. Simply taking them out of the program saves about $1.5 billion."

Addressing participants Friday during the California Agricultural Leadership Foundation conference in Petaluma, Rey also touted these farm bill proposals:

$250 million devoted to help beginning farmers and ranchers through flexible loan programs to help them buy land and other supports.

"Today the median age of an American farmer is 55, and for cattle ranchers it's 57," he said. "A substantial number of young people want to break into agriculture but can't do so easily because of the capital requirements."

The targeting of $5 billion to boost specialty crops by buying more fruits and vegetables for school meal programs, by funding specialty crop research and by fighting trade barriers that hinder market growth overseas.

Rey also met Friday with representatives from a local coalition of agriculture and environmental leaders who are collaborating on salmon habitat restoration in the Russian River watershed.

Lex McCorvey, executive director of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, said more than 20 people are working together on the initiative, which he hopes the farm bill could help fund.

"It's very critical because the Russian River is sort of the cornerstone or the lifeblood in our community, in terms of providing water for food, water for public consumption and water for salmon and other wildlife," McCorvey said.

Rey applauded the diverse group of representatives for "working hard to retain the vibrancy" of Sonoma County's agricultural economy.

"These people are not at each other's throats," he said. "They're working together toward a common future."

You can reach Staff Writer Katy Hillenmeyer at 521-5274 or katy.hillenmeyer@pressdemocrat

.com.