or fuel in parts of the world that they probably would have never imagined that they would provide those items. as a result of that, we've seen farm income reach a record $98 billion. with very low debt to asset ratios. i'm often asked, are you concerned about what happened in the '80s in terms of could it happen today? sure, we always have that concern. but having said that, farmers tend to business. they've kept their debt reasonable. they've kept it low, and they've really tended to the business that they run. but at the same time, we all recognize, including our farmers and rancher, that our nation's budget situation is more daunting than ever. with our country's total national debt over $15 trillion, the federal government is now borrowing about 42 cents of every dollar. this farm bill, though, like no

other committee that i am aware of, has taken on the responsibility of providing deficit reduction. and as you and the ranking member have pointed out, this farm bill saves at least $24.7 billion. you can only imagine if other committees would accept the same responsibility how big a step we would take in dealing with our deficit issues. but in this package, like every piece of legislation, there's probably some things alike, there's probably some things i don't liberia. that definitely is true. i'm not a fan of target prices and reference prices. people may ask, well, why is that? i'll share a story with you. i was secretary of agriculture when katrina struck, a devastating impact. part of the impact of katrina was that for a period of time

the shipping lanes down the river, the mississippi river, were blocked. we all knew that that was temporary. we all knew that work was going to start just as soon as the winds stopped blowing to move the items that had sunk and the ships and get that shipping lane opened up. but in a very brief period of time the price of corn dropped from about $2 a bushel to $1.60 a bushel. what happened? perfectly, legitimately, everybody locked in their loan deficiency payment, $4 billion went out the door at the usda almost overnight. now, we knew that was a very temporary time and prices, in fact, came back to that $2 level. hard to imagine these days when we have such higher prices than that. what am i saying?

i'm just saying when you set targets, then you are basically sending into the marketplace a direction as to how to utility liz that target. so at the end of the day, the loan deficiency payment was paid out, a former continued to own the commodity, and at the end of the day really suffered no loss except in rather unusual circumstances. well, what i have heard, and what i think members of this committee have heard, is that the crop insurance plan offers the best opportunity to go to a more market-oriented farm bill. and i just want to wrap up today by just applauding you and the ranking member and so many members of this committee for recognizing that. i just think it's a significant step in the right direction for farm policy, and i applaud your efforts. thank you, madam chair. >> well, thank you very, very much.

now to another nebraska person. before calling on senator nelson, i want to say it has been terrific working with you. we are going to miss you in your retirement, bringing your leadership, having been former governor as well as senator and so many other public service positions that you have -- that you have held. and you have been a stalwart, strong advocate for nebraska and for agriculture. on a personal level it's been wonderful working with you, coming in with you to the senate. so we always, always appreciate your efforts, and we're going to miss you. >> well, thank you very much, madam chairwoman. and it's sort of like hearing a eulogy. but i appreciate your kind thoughts. i want to also associate myself with all the very glowing and truthful comments about working with you. i've never known in a committee

structure a chairperson who reaches out as you have in this effort. and it's why we are where we are. obviously, there isn't such a thing as a perfect bill. but if it could achieve perfection, i know you would have that as your target. and to say thank you for being tireless in this effort. i know about all the telephone calls we've had and the meetings and the staff meetings, and i want to thank you and the staff. and it's unfortunate the ranking member is not here because i know he's from the state of kansas, but i just wanted to remind him that before kansas became a state, nebraska became a state, kansas was part of the nebraska territory. i'm sure he'll -- >> you can repeat that again when he comes back. >> of course. well, the hard work has really been, you know, important. and as you put the title of the

bill together, agriculture reform, food, and jobs act of 2012, it's clearly apt that the word "jobs" is in the title. agriculture in nebraska is responsible for one of every three jobs. and agriculture is the backbone of nebraska's economy. it drives the economy. it sup sports the communities, provides what we call the basis for the good life that we all enjoy. and it's with any bill, as i mentioned, this legislation isn't perfect but it's a start. and an excellent start. i believe it strikes the right balance between taking the needed steps in today's fiscal climate to cut spending as has been indicated while maintaining a strong and an important safety net to ensure a stable supply of food, feed, fuel, and fiber. and in a time of partisan gridlock and deficit concerns, it's good to see the bipartisanship that madam chair, you and ranking member roberts have been able to maintain and

also work so strongly for a safety net while making a significant contribution to debt reduction. in this committee, we've produced a bill as noted that cults at least $23 billion more from agriculture programs that reps 2% of the nation's budget and the $23-plus billion reduction represents nearly 2% of the cults proposed in the deficit legislation that congress worked on last year but couldn't quite pass because of partisanship. we've put together a bipartisan budget savings bill. and if others across our government followed this example and made similar cuts, we would be able to achieve the goal that we all have of reducing the deficit and getting it under control. as i've said in the past, this bill will permit people until

agriculture to establish their own risk-management tools rather than having to rely on the good will of the government to bail them out at times that they have faced a downturn in their agricultural efforts. and while the u.s. agriculture has been one of the bright spots in the economy throughout the economic downturn, farming and ranching are still, as noted, inherently risky undertakings from volatile markets to the whims of mother nature. i'm also pleased with the components of the agriculture risk coverage arp. while crop insurance should be the focal point of an agricultural safety net, i'm glad the committee recognized the need to provide producers with complementary risk-management tools to help myth gait the risks inherent in the commodity markets to help farmers adjust to lower commodity prices while input prices are likely to remain high. beyond the broader reduction of

agriculture provisions, i'm glad the committee has recognized the unique roles, conservation and rural development play in rural communities and the benefits they provide the nation as a whole. so i applaud the committee for such a strong conservation title that recognizes the important role of creating partnerships with local stakeholders with a bureaucratic top-down approach to gain more buy-ins from farmers, horsemen, and conservationists alike. working together, we can ensure the quantity and quality of our nation's soil and water and protect wildlife for sportsmen and conservations alike. while the mark was unable to find mandatory money for the rural development title, i'm still glad that the committee recognizes the importance of the programs by reauthorizing many of them and improving upon them from the 2008 farm bill, especially the program referred to as the rural microentrepreneur assistance

program. rural development vo provides small businesses which make up 90% of all rural business. the needed capital -- provides the needed capital to finance start-up costs and provides the backing for young and beginning farmers to enter production agriculture to replace retiring farmers and ranchers. while we were unable to find the necessary mandatory money, i home to work with both chairwoman and the ranking member to ensure that there is some level of support made available as we work toward moving the bill to the floor and eventually senate passage. so once again, i thank the chair and the ranking member, roberts. since he's here, i noted at the beginning of my remarks that while you're from kansas, before kansas became a state, you were part of the nebraska territory. i know that rifles the ranking member for me to remind him of that, but facts are facts. thank you both. >> would the senator yield for a moment. >> of course. >> that is true, but of course for the big ten, you are no

longer a member. of the great plains society. >> and we welcome you to the big ten. and now we say welcome to senator bozeman, who -- a new member of the committee, first farm bill here in the senate. it's interesting. i know that -- i've always said michigan has more diversity crops than the other states so so we have to pay attention to every page of the farm bill. senator bozeman has to pay attention to rice, rice, rice. he is a strong advocate. we know we have more work do with you, and we will. we're grateful for your hard work. >> well, thank you, madam chair, and we do appreciate, and i want to echo what's been said about your hard work and the ranking member's hard work and also your patience. senator baucus alluded to -- and many others -- the phone calls, the e-mails, the grabbings on the floor and stuff. and, again, we do appreciate you and the ranking member for

putting up with us and trying to address our needs. the other thing i think we have to recognize is your staff and the ranking member's staff. but also, as i look around the room and i see all of our staffers sitting here with bags underneath their eyes, we really do appreciate their hard work. the nation truly has a very diverse fabric of agriculture with a variety of different risk. and writing a farm bill that serves as a safety net for all crops and regions certainly no easy task. yet the responsibility is with us, and we must embrace it, to ensure that the united states continues to have the safest, most reliable, and most affordable supply of food and fiber in the world. our nation is at a crossroads, and we are in desperate need of fiscal discipline, fiscal restraint. i'm pleased that the farm bill includes important reforms, reduces spending by more than is required of this committee, and eliminates duplicative or obsolete government programs to ensure we are getting the most out of every dollar we invest in

agriculture. the forest title contains important improvements that will benefit america's forest industry. the improvements to the usda biobased markets program and the manager's package will allow forest products to be included in the program. the current usda biobased markets program favors foreign products over our american forest products, which puts american workers at a disadvantage. so i'm happy with the progress on this issue, and i appreciate the effort to promote and purchase our renewable homegrown products. crop insurance also contains some important improvements and provisions for irrigated and nonirrigated units, yield plugs will help many producer who is may have otherwise been left unprotected by the elimination of direct payments in the countercyclical program. at the same time, this is not a perfect bill, and i have serious concerns about the commodity

title and the impact it will have on southern producers and the planning decisions that they'll have to make. i also have concerns about some missed opportunities in terms of limiting waste and abecause boous in the nutrition title. the commodity tile, as it is currently written, will have a devastating impact on southern ag, which relies heavily on irrigation, and therefore benefits less from crop insurance. furthermore, the new revenue plan is designed to augment crop insurance so this new program leaves gaping holes in the southern safety net. even with the reference price, the revenue plan may not be strong enough for our farmers to actually get operating loans. for example, most estimates find rice, as you mentioned earlier, would lose more than 70% of its baseline, far more than their share. however, this is not about one crop, one size simply doesn't fit all, and we have other crops in a similar situation.

i'm very concerned this proposal is couched in the assumption that we will continue to have these high commodity prices. a revenue plan is attractive when prices are high, but i'm not sure there's anything in this plan that protects producers from the multiyear price decline and an untested, one size fits all program with no producer choice could leave many producers vulnerable in a very tough situation. throughout this process, i've said that anything that goes too far in any direction can violate the core principles of the effort. i'm afraid that this commodity title does that in its current form. as others have alluded to. it's my opinion that we could have done more to eliminate waste and abuse in the nutrition title, ensure that we are getting the most out of these investments that they are, in fact, going to the neediest among us. we should fully close loopholes

which has benefits for tsunami recipients. there are other things we can do to save money without reducing benefits and reinvest in other critical nutrition areas and deficit reduction. but just because there isn't full agreement doesn't mean that our farmers stopped needing a safety net. in spite of our differences at this point, in time i'm still very optimistic. and thing that i think that we all agree around the table is that we very definitely need to pass a farm bill as quickly as we can. i know that with your leadership and the chair and the ranking member and with all the members of this committee working together to give their fair share and get back what they need, we can build the consensus necessary to usher a farm bill through the legislative process and see it signed into law this year. we can do this i think while preserving the safety nets, making reforms, and achieving

deficit reduction. i'm confident that we can craft a bill that we are all proud of, and i look forward to continuing to work with the chair and ranking member and all the members of the committee in seeing it through. >> well, thank you very much. and as i've indicated before, we're looking forward to working with you. this is step one in the process, and we will continue to do that. senator casey, let me first say, thank you for your leadership on dairy, your work on nutrition, specialty crops, also in conservation. and because of you, the chesapeake bay regional partnership is a part of this. and we are grateful for all of your hard work. >> madam chair, thank you very much, and i am grateful to be a part of this effort to bring forth a farm bill. i'll submit a longer statement for the record, but i want to thank you for your hard work and working with me and with our office so closely as you have with others, and your ranking member, as well, senator roberts. we're grateful. it's a -- it's a significant example of bipartisanship at a

time we don't see nearly enough of it. i'll just make three or four quick comments. number one, the deficit reduction that's set forth in this legislation is substantial, and i think that should be noted. and i know it's going to be somewhere between $23 billion and $24 billion, but that's significant. secondly, i think the job creation potential of this legislation is tremendous. and i think whenever we're talking about a farm bill or a farm families or rural economy, we've got to be focused on job creation. i think there are a lot of very sound and significant strategies on job creation. i'm very concerned, as you mentioned, about how we in the context of making cuts that we make cuts that are smart but also are aware, that we're aware and cognizant that there are a lot of people suffering, a lot of vulnerable people that suffer in this economy, especially those who don't have enough to eat. and i'm very concerned about how we do that and making sure that

we're protecting the most vulnerable. and then finally, the one sector of this legislation just happens to be the biggest sector of our pennsylvania agriculture economy, and that's dairy farming. and i'm still very concerned about it, and we work very hard to try to do everything we can to protect dairy farm families who have suffered through what can only be described as worse than the great depression over the last five or so years. so we're grateful for the work on that. i know there's more work to be done on that. and in the interests of time, i'll stop there. but madam chair, thank you for your leadership on this. >> thank you very much. and now -- and turning to senator grassley, i just want to thank you for your knowledge and advocacy on agriculture over the years and your tenacity. we have substantial reform in this bill because of your tenacity and commitment. and we want to thank you for your leadership. >> and thank you, madam

chairman, for your cooperation on that issue. it's the most cooperation i've ever had in the 10 or 15 years that i've been working on the issue of trying to bring been working on bringing reform to make sure 10% of the biggest farmers that get 70% of the benefits of the farm program are not being subsidized by the federal taxpayers to get even bigger. nothing wrong with getting bigger, but when taxpayers subsidize it, i think that is bad and thank you for helping us improve that situation. and i also appreciate, madam chairman, the work that you and ranking member roberts have put into this farm bill, and while we still have a ways to go through this long process, we're surely getting started at the right time, and in the right direction. the farm bill is never an easy process, and certainly it isn't any easier on our current budget conditions. we're dealing with a broad range of issues that are important to

americans, from conservation to nutrition. it's important that we get the bill done this year. many of the members of this committee have come together in supporting what many farmers say is the most important piece of the farmers safetynet, crop insurance. we've worked for 30 years to make it an effective management tool and, of course, it's very advantageous that farmers have skin in the game with crop insurance, because it seems to me that's not only good farm policy, but that's good public policy. there's been a lot of debate about the programs this committee is going to create to replace direct payments. i still have some reservations about title 1 revenue program and it's potential interaction with crop insurance, but i understand the reality that there is a fairly broad support for a revenue program. i commend the chair and ranking member on providing a high level of defensibility to the

chairman's mark. i think accepting my proposal for the $50,000 payment cap on commodity programs is crucial to ensure that we all can go to the senate floor and defend this bill, particularly in these tight budget situations. and i pleaam please swred final closed the loophole in my amendment accepted in the modified mark will help ensure farm payments go to farmers and not to doctor, lawyers and celebrities. there is no justification for allowing non-farmers to receive farm payments, and that is particularly true in this current budget climate. the payment limit reformed and the chairman's mark is something this committee should be very, very proud of. i'm not going to ask for a vote or even offer an amendment today on another crusade of mine, the

packer band issue, but i still say a few words. for too long, large meat packers have had an unfair advantage in the marketplace. at some point, congress has to address the fact that independent livestock producers are entitled to a level playing field. one big step congress could take to solve competition problems is banning packer ownership of livestock. you can imagine, can't you, how demoralizing it is to the average beef producer, or maybe any livestock producer, for that matter, when there's sea oil of a major packer of a few years ago that wants to know do you really want to know why we own livestock? we own livestock because when prices are high we kill our own. when prices are low, we buy from the farmer. seems morally and ethically long but seems to be pretty much

bordering on violation of fair competition. banning packer ownership of livestock will help us ensure our livestock producers are able to compete in the marketplace. so, thank you, madam chairman, and i look forward to moving in an affective farm bill out of this committee and doing it very, very soon. >> thank you very much again. as i indicated, we have significant reform in here because of your leadership and thank you very, very much. senator bennett, we welcome your comments. as subcommittee chair on conservation we're proud of what's been done in conservation. we notice a very big growth industry for you. you've made it clear in your advocacy for what needs to happen for colorado and we're going to continue to work with you and appreciate all of your

advocacy on that record as well. >> thank you for that, madam chair, and let me say thank you to you and the ranking member in a different way. over the last 18 months, i've done over 20 farm bill listening session ace cross colorado from core tesz to lamar and meeker, and when people ask me in these places what is wrong with you people? why can't you work with each other? i have an opportunity to point to how we should approach or work all croacross the united states senate. this committee has shown extraordinary leadership and would not have happened without you, madam chair, or the ranking member. so thank you for setting an example for the rest of the congress. i also want to thank your staff very much. both the chairwoman in the ranking committee. they worked with me on several important inclusions we're about

to take up. among these important colorado price and you mentioned in the revamped conservation title. inkpluding a new emphasis on restoring water kauquantity. something very important to the west and important conclusions that strengthen easements. as we move towards the floor on additional provisions, that will help us voluntarily conserve private lands across the country and in my state. i'd also like to thank the committee for reauthorizing the forest services stewardship contracting authority. stewardship contracting allows our federal land management agencies to implement high priority forest management and restoration projects that are critical to colorado. this is an important tool for initiatives that restore and maintain healthy forests, ecosystems and provide local employment. in fact, colorado currently has more stewardship contracts under way than any other state with 34 projects totaling almost 12,000

acres. finally i want to give special thanks to chairwoman stabenow for work wig me on dairy policy. for rural colorado the dairy industry has ban tremendous success story. over the next few years colorado is bringing in tens of thousands of more cows in its position to double its dairy output. this growth in colorado's dairy industry comes from our producers and manufacturers responding to market opportunities overseas. in fact, madam chair, this is happening all over the the country. i'm holding a recent article from the "wall street journal" that highlights how the dairy cooperative in california in response to a slow u.s. market invested in processing infrastructure to supply china's growing middle class with milk. i'd like to submit the article for the record. >> without objection. >> thank you. the products may be going overseas but the jobs are created in our rural communities. while i don't plan to offer my amendment for a stand-alone

margin insurance program i strongly support this growth-oriented approach to risk management for dairy. i know we have regional differences here, and i respect that, but i hope to continue to work with you and others on the committee throughout this farm bill process to advance a dairy policy that reflects the industry's growing commitment to export opportunities. thank you, again, to the chair and the ranking member for all of your work getting us to this point, and i look forward to working with you as we head towards the floor. >> well, thank you very much, and we do intend to continue to work with you as we work to strike down -- what really is the farm bill is about. we're going to continue to work with you. let me turn now to senator thune. i want to thank you, and in so many different ways. the foundation for what we're calling our agricultural risk coverage program. you have been a tremendous leader on. and as well as advocate around energy and conservation. number of different area, but we are here.

your effort with senator brown in putting forward what was a very thoughtful concept for us has really led us to the program that we have, and we thank you very much for that. >> well, thank you, madam chairwoman and i thank ranking member roberts first of all to both of you for your hard work and for the members of your staff, who really have worked tirelessly for the past few weeks and months to bring us to where we are today and i do appreciate your persistence in trying to get this thing moving, and in listening, as has been pointed out and trying to accommodate concerns members from all different parts of the country have and different, representing different types of different commodities. this is no easy feat, and so congratulations to you and to senator roberts to getting us to this point an hopefully getting a bill to the floor where we can act ton and get something, eventually on the president's desk, which i think is the goal everybody has in