AFBF Unveils AgRecovery Action Plan
To Boost U.S. Farmers

PARK RIDGE, Ill., July 8, 1999 -- The American Farm Bureau Federation today unveiled its proposal for an emergency farm assistance package. Farm Bureau leaders from across the nation will take the organization’s AgRecovery Action Plan to the nation’s capital next week in their quest to secure emergency financial help for America’s farm and ranch families caught in the throes of today's farm economic crisis.

Farm Bureau’s AgRecovery Action Plan seeks approximately $9 billion in new and previously authorized funds to help farmers through a dire period of depressed prices, slumping exports and economic disaster. The proposal, approved Wednesday by the AFBF board of directors, includes recommendations for: approximately $4 billion in direct financial assistance; roughly $2 billion for immediate export initiatives; and around $2 billion for reform and expansion of the federally supported risk management safety net.

The plan also calls for an additional $5 billion in federal assistance to help farmers cope with the growing cost of complying with federal regulatory mandates.

The AgRecovery Action Plan further seeks: immediate passage of legislation (H.R. 1592) to ensure farmers the future availability of safe and economical crop protection products; contingency funding for 1999 weather disasters; expenditures to allow maximum enrollment in the conservation reserve program; export enhancement spending to make U.S. farm goods competitive with subsidized foreign commodities; and recommendations to implement or fund programs for specific sectors such as cotton and dairy.

"The economic situation facing America's farmers and ranchers has reached a critical stage," said AFBF President Dean Kleckner. "It is a moral imperative that steps be taken immediately to shore up a farm economy that has not shared in the nation's overall economic boom.

"Provisions outlined in Farm Bureau's AgRecovery Action Plan are needed immediately to halt the human toll the farm crisis is taking in rural America and to prevent further economic disasters from destroying America's family-based system of agriculture. Much of our plan addresses reforms promised, but not carried out, during debate of the current farm program."

AFBF's Farm Policy Committee, a 23-member committee Kleckner appointed this spring, drafted the AgRecovery Action Plan as an emergency, short-term response to agriculture’s economic woes. The committee is continuing its mission to hammer out intermediate- and long-term farm policy recommendations.

Kansas Farm Bureau President Gary Hall, who chairs the committee, said the AgRecovery Action Plan "provides America's farmers vital financial assistance and includes viable provisions to boost exports, increase risk management options and offset the severe impact of expensive government regulations."

"The crisis we are facing in farm country is driven by low prices for just about all crops, including fruits and vegetables and livestock," Hall said. "While farmers in my state are bringing in this year's wheat harvest, they are facing per-bushel market prices comparable to those seen in the late 19th century. Market prices for virtually every farm product have fallen dramatically over the past three years and some are at 20-year lows. There is relatively little reason for optimism given the current economic price estimates for the next 12 to 18 months."

AFBF's AgRecovery Action Plan recommends the following provisions:

  • Approximately $4 billion in supplemental direct federal assistance to farmers through "market loss assistance payments" based on a goal of at least 75 percent of annual farm program payments.

  • Disbursement of annual farm program payments on Oct. 1 of each year.

  • Opposition to payment limitations, including farm program and loan deficiency payments.

  • $2 billion in funding for export programs such as concessional sales and international food assistance for non-program crops, fruits and vegetables and meat products.

  • Reform of U.S.-imposed trade sanctions, streamlining of export regulations and compensation for lost markets.

  • Adoption of normal trade relations with China.

  • Competitive funding for export programs in the federal government's fiscal year 2000 budget.

  • $2 billion to improve and expand agriculture's financial safety net through federal risk management programs.

  • Expand the use of the dairy options pilot program.

  • An initial $5 billion federal regulatory cost offset to assist farmers and ranchers in complying with existing regulations.

  • Passage of (H.R. 1592) to ensure proper implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act.

  • Provide contingency funding for disaster assistance for 1999 crops.

  • Sufficient funding for the cotton Step 2 program.

  • Continue the dairy support program through 2002, require the Agriculture Department to implement option 1A for federal milk market order reform and support multi-state dairy compacts.

  • Expand the conservation reserve program acreage to its maximum legal acreage threshold.

Farm Bureau presidents from the 50 states and Puerto Rico will promote the organization's AgRecovery Action Plan next week when they converge on Capitol Hill to meet with their congressional representatives.