Glickman Promises Proposals
For Agriculture Policy Revamp

WASHINGTON —(AP)— Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman says the ``farm economy stinks'' and promises to have some proposals to overhaul the market-oriented 1996 farm law that will provide more assistance to farmers when commodity prices are low.

``Lurching, ad hoc style, from one patchwork emergency bill to the next is not the most effective way to help farmers,'' Glickman said at a news conference last week.

President Clinton said last week that Congress needed to ``revise, revamp and improve'' the 1996 ``Freedom to Farm'' law because it did not take adequate care of farmers. The law was intended to make farmers less dependent on government assistance. But commodity prices dropped sharply last year and Congress has responded by passing successive multibillion-dollar bailout packages.

But USDA has come under fire from Republicans over the past year for not offering legislative proposals of its own on crop insurance and emergency farm assistance.

``We have an obligation to come up ... with some specific proposals,'' Glickman said. ``We've tried to do that, but we're going to have to do a better job in the future.''

The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Texas Republican Larry Combest, said he doubted Glickman's proposals would be sufficiently detailed. Ideas that sound good in theory often have undesirable ramifications when put in practice, Combest said.

``We can't work hypothetically; they have to be specific. The more they are specific the more they will be players in the final outcome,'' said Combest.

Combest plans hearings, starting early next year, on possible changes to the 1996 law. USDA will offer its proposals at that time, said August Schumacher Jr., deputy undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services.

Glickman has previously proposed raising subsidy rates for crops and subsidizing grain storage so farmers could keep crops off the market when prices were low. He also has indicated interest in an insurance program proposed by Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas, that would allow farmers to guarantee a minimum income based on fluctuations in crop yields and prices.

The first checks from this year's assistance package started going into the mail Monday, and additional payments will be going out into next year, depending on the program.

Farmers who lost crops to drouth and flooding likely will get a 35 percent advance payment with the rest to come after the Agriculture Department totals up all the claims, Glickman said. Congress provided $1.2 billion for weather-related crop losses.

It may be many months before USDA implements a new program for reporting the prices that packers pay for livestock.

The reporting program was included in the bailout measure, but Congress did not allocate any money to operate it. Glickman said it would cost $4.7 billion to run the system over the next year. The program cannot start until Congress provides an appropriation for it or the department finds another source of funds, he said.

``We're going to start the organization of the program. You can't implement the program without the money,'' he said.