White House blocks "green" farm payments-Senators (Reuters)

[Up2Late]

(Hey! WTF? I finnally agree with something one of my Senator (Chambliss-GA) is doing!)

White House blocks 'green' farm payments-senators

Fri Jan 27, 2006 04:11 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House budget office is preventing the government from enrolling farmers in a program that pays them to be good stewards of their land, the leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee said on Friday.

In a letter, the leaders said "unnecessary, bureaucratic" delays will frustrate farmers and ranchers while making it harder for Congress to assess the value of the Conservation Security Program (CSP).

The letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns urged that enrollment be held during winter, when farmers plan their operations for the growing season. It was signed by chairman Saxby Chambliss, Georgia Republican, and Tom Harkin of Iowa, the Democratic leader on the panel.

They said an Agriculture Department agency "is ready to begin enrollment but is being prohibited by the Office of Management and Budget from doing so." It was the second letter to Johanns this month to urge a timely enrollment for CSP, created in 2002 and given $259 million for fiscal 2006.

(more at link above)

<http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=11006160&src=rss/politicsNews>

[hughee99]

1. What does one have to do to get paid to be

"a good steward of their land"?

[Up2Late]

3. This guessing, but I think it has to do with letting some of your...

...land sit un-plowed for a year or two (to let it regenerate it's natural nutrients) and preventing erosion and chemical run-off (i.e. water pollution).

Remember the 1930's "Dust Bowl"! <http://www.usd.edu/anth/epa/dust.html>

[NoAmericanTaliban]

2. 'Trick Knee' Chambliss actually does something right..

Maybe there is something about this program we don't know about - give-a-way to an argi-business in Georgia, ... but then if the white house is against it....

Hay 'Chicken Hawk' Saxby, How's your knee? Looks like it is doing a lot better now that the vietnam war is over.

[EC]

4. Probably another unfunded program

passed to look good, but be useless...

[Up2Late]

6. $259 million for fiscal 2006... I wouldn't call that unfunded.

Yes, it's not that much compared to the $250+ Billion for the war in Iraq (so far).

Amazing how $259 Million sounds like Chicken feed now.

[hatrack]

5. Natural plantings along streamcourses, buffer strips, etc.

It's a good idea, but independent farmers (in many cases) aren't going to be able to take that land out of production w/o the subsidy.

And the ADM/Cargill/IBPs of the world just don't give a shit.

[Up2Late]

7. kick n/t

:kick: