Harkin Ag Bill Plan Boosts
Conservation, Some Subsidies

WASHINGTON —(AP)— The chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee wants to set up two new subsidy programs for farmers and double spending on conservation programs over the next decade.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said he expects to have broad, bipartisan support for legislation he will release Wednesday. His plan would cost $170 billion over 10 years, the same amount as legislation passed by the House earlier this month.

The bill will be ``broadly supported and balanced, with conservation at its core. Let's move it. There is no use in waiting,'' Harkin said in an interview last week.

He said he expected the Bush administration to like his plan better than the House's. The administration has been sharply critical of the House bill, saying it would encourage overproduction and primarily help big farms that need assistance the least.

Among key details of the plan:

— It would keep two existing subsidy programs that provide fixed annual payments to grain and cotton farms and guarantee minimum income for their crops. Crop subsidy rates would be increased for most crops.

— A new program would provide additional money when income falls below predetermined ``target'' levels — $270 an acre for corn, $215 for soybeans, $120 for wheat and $360 for cotton.

— A second new program would reward farmers for good environmental practices, such as erosion control, with payments of $20,000 to $50,000 a year.

Under Harkin's plan, conservation spending would rise $1.8 billion a year by 2006 and average $4 billion annually over the decade, up from $2 billion under existing programs. The House bill increases conservation programs by $1.2 billion annually.

The Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers to take highly erodible land out of production, would be increased from 34 million acres to 40 million acres under Harkin's plan. There would be additional funds for a variety of other programs.

``I believe I made good on what I said I was going to do, and that was to make conservation a cornerstone,'' Harkin said.

Environmental activists want to increase conservation spending by as much as $3 billion a year. The Bush administration has endorsed a plan by the Senate Agriculture Committee's senior Republican, Richard Lugar of Indiana, that would provide a $2.6 billion increase by 2006.

Harkin's plan is ``just marginally better than the House. It's a major disappointment,'' said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, an activist organization.

Lugar's measure would phase out crop subsidies in favor of giving farmers vouchers to buy revenue insurance. Agriculture Department spokesman Kevin Herglotz said he had not seen Harkin's plan and could not comment on it.

Harkin said he plans for the Senate Agriculture Committee to finish work on a farm bill next week, but the legislation may not go the Senate floor until January or February.

The administration has urged Congress to delay final action on an overhaul of farm programs until next year. Existing programs expire at the end of September 2002.