Tuesday, November 18, 2008

last updated: January 04, 2008 01:36:53 AM

In late January, a few senators and members of the House of Representatives will go behind closed doors to decide what stays in and what gets left out of the 2007 farm bill. Dennis Cardoza must be in that room.

Congress passed two versions of the 2007 farm bill. In July, the House voted for a $286 billion, five-year program that included many of Cardoza's priorities -- money for farmers to fight pollution, aid conservation, conduct plant research and to protect consumers from dangerous food.

In December, the Senate also approved a $286 billion bill with many of the same provisions.

So what is there to argue about? The devil is always in the details. Those details will be reconciled in a conference committee, made up of a few selected representatives and senators.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi will choose the House conferees. If she fails to appoint Cardoza, there's a chance California's concerns will be overlooked -- or sacrificed -- by legislators intent on keeping intact fat subsidy payments to corporate farmers.

Most subsidies go to corporations growing corn, wheat, cotton, rice and soybeans. Most California farmers specialize in higher-value fruits, vegetables, nuts and dairy products. Historically, they've eschewed federal subsidies and the rules that come with them.

But farming in California is changing. Farmers are required to meet stringent air and water safety regulations; exotic diseases are attacking their crops and animals; trade barriers block access to world markets. Such challenges require federal help -- and the House bill has it. For example:

The House provides specific dollars for Conservation Innovation Grants; the Senate offers only encouragement.

The House would spend $48 million on challenging barriers to U.S. products overseas; the Senate allocates

$38 million, but would cut that to $2 million in the final year -- making it harder to get funding in the next farm bill.

The House has greater support for the market access program, which has created jobs in Stanislaus and Merced counties through increased ag exports.

The House would spend $215 million on specialty crop research; the Senate offers only $16 million.

Meanwhile, the House should embrace the Senate's "stewardship" program for specialty-crop growers and creation of a nonprofit Healthy Food Enterprise Development Center to help poor people buy healthier food. All of the dozens of such differences buried in the 1,360-page bill must be negotiated.

Protecting narrow valley interests isn't the only reason to appoint Cardoza. The farm bill is a 72-year-old juggernaut filled with subsidies protected by rich special interests. Many people from across the nation are demanding these subsidies be ended. But juggernauts turn incrementally. Cardoza is among those capable of redirecting farm bill money from the wealthy few into programs that benefit more Americans. He can't negotiate if he's not invited to the table.

And that's up to Pelosi. Put Cardoza on the committee.

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California farmers don't want subsidies from the farm bill -- they want help in confronting critical issues. The best way to ensure they get that help is for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to appoint Rep. Dennis Cardoza to the committee that crafts the final version of the bill.

To comment, click on the link with this editorial at www.modbee.com/opinion.

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