level it's been wonderful working with you, coming in with you to the senate, so we -- 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, and i want to also associate myself with all the very glowing and truthful comments about working with you. i've never -- i've never known in a committee structure a chairperson would reaches out as you have in this -- 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 -- if it could achieve perfection, i know you would -- 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 -- i know he's from the state of kansas, but i want 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 important, and as you put the title of the bill together, agriculture reform footed a jobs act of 2012, it's clearly anti-that the word jobs is in the title.

agriculture in nebraska is responsible for one of every three jobs, and agriculture is the back bone of step ask a's economy. it drives the economy t.supports the communities. it provides what we call the basis for the good life that we all enjoy, and 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 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 such a safety net while making a significant contribution to debt

reduction. in this committee, we've produced a bill as noted that cuts at least 23 billion more from agriculture programs. it represents 2% of the nation's budget and the 23 plus billion reduction represents nearly 2% of the cuts 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, the -- this bill will permit people in agriculture to establish their own risk management tools rather than having to rely on the

goodwill of the government to bail them out at times that they have faced downturn in their -- in their agricultural efforts. 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, are inherently risky undertakesings from volatile markets to the whims of mother nature. i'm also pleased with the components of the agriculture risk coverage, a.r.c., and while crop insurance should be the focal point of an agricultural safety net i'm glad they have provided producers with a complementary risk management tools to help them mitigate 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 production 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 of a bureaucratic top-down approach, to get more buy-in from farmers, sportsmen and conservationists alike. by working together, these groups will be able to ensure the productivity of our nation's soil, preserve the quantity and quality of our nation's water, and protect wade life 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 provides small businesses which make up 90% of all rural business. the needed capital -- provides

the needed capital to finance startup 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 hope to work with both the chairwoman and the ranking member to ensure that there's some level of support made available as we work towards moving the bill to the floor and eventual senate passage. so once again, i thank the chair and the ranking member roberts, and 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 wrankles the ranking member for me to remind him of that, but facts are facts. thank you both. >> if the senator would yield for a moment. >> of course. >> that is true, but, of course, now you've left for the big ten and you're no longer a member of the great plain society. >> and we welcome you to the big ten. >> thank you.

>> and now let me say welcome to senator boozman, a new member of the committee, the first farm bill here in the stat. it's interesting. i know that -- i've always said michigan has more diversity crops than any other state so we have to pay attention to every page of the farm bill. senator boozman has to pay attention to rice, rice, rice, so he's a strong advocate. we know we have more work to do with you and we will, and 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 and many others the phone calls, the e-mails, the grabbings on the floor, you know, 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, and also as i look around the room

and 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 is 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 affo affordable supply of food and fiber in the world. our nation is at a crossroads, and we're 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 that 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

bio-based markets program and the manager's package will allow forest products to be included in the program. the current usda bio-based 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 home-grown products. crop insurance also contains some important improvements in the provisions for irrigated and non-irrigated enterprise units, supplemental coverage options and yield plugs will help many producers who may have otherwise been left unprotected by the elimination of direct payments and 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 will have to make. i also have concerns about some missed opportunities in the

terms of eliminating waste and abuse in the nutrition title. the commodity title 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 a reference price, the reference -- the revenue plan may not be even strong enough for our farmers to to actually get operating loans. for example, most estimates find that 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 that 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 a multi-year price decline and and 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 and ensure that we're getting the most out of these investments that they are in fact going to the neediest among us. we should have fully closed the loophole which artificialfully inflates benefits for s.n.a.p. recipients, and there are other things we can do to make it -- 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 stop needing a safety net. in spite of our differences at this point, in time i'm -- i'm still very optimistic, and the 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 in the chair and the ranking member and with all the members of this committee working together to give up their fair share and get back what they need, we can build a consensus necessary to usher a farm bill through the legislative process and see is signed into law this year. we can do this, i think, while preserving the safety nets, making reforms and achieves deficit reduction. i'm confident that we can craft a bill that we're all proud of and look forward to continuing to work with the chair and the 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 -- and because of you we -- 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'm grateful of this opportunity to be part of this opportunity to bring forth a farm bill. i'll also submit a longer statement for the record but thank you for working with me and with our office so closely as you have with others and your ranking members as well, so we're grateful. it's a significant example of bipartisanship at a time when 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 -- that should be noted. and i know it's going to be somewhere between 23 and 24 billion and that's secretary. secondly, i think the job potential potential of this legislation is trem doug, and i think whenever we're talking about a farm bill or our farm families or rural economy, we've got to be focused on job creation. i think there's 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 or 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 in making sure that we're protecting the most vulnerable. and then finally, the -- the one sector of this legislation just happens to be the biggest sector

of our pennsylvania agricultural economy, and that's dairy farming, and i'm still very concerned about and we worked 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 -- and in the interest of time i'll stop there. but madam chair, thank you for your leadership on this. >> thank you very much. and now, 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 most cooperation i've ever had in the 10 or 15 years that

i've been working on the issue to try to bring reform to make sure that the 10% of the biggest farmers that get 70% of the benefits out of the farm program are not being subsidized by the federal taxpayers to get even bigger. it's nothing wrong with getting bigger, but when the taxpayers subsidize it, i think that that is bad, and thank you for helping us improve that situation. and i also appreciate you and ranking member roberts have put into this natural bill and while we still have a long ways to go through this process we're surely getting starting at the right time and in the right direction. the farm bill is never an easy process, and certainly it isn't in our current budget conditions. we're dealing with a broad range of issues that are important to americans, from conservation to nutriti 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' safety net, crop insurance. we've worked for 30 years to make it an effective risk 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 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 one revenue program and its potential interaction with crop insurance, but i understand the reality that there's 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 mart. 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 floor, particularly in these tight budget situations, and i'm pleased that we have finally closed the loophole and actively engaged my amendment which was accepted in the modified mark. it will help ensure farm payments go to farmers and not to doctors, 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 reform in 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 banned 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 backer 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 a ceo of a major meat packing plant a few years ago that says do you want to know really 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. that seems to be not only morally and ethically wrong, but it seems to get 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 an effective and defensible farm bill out of this committee and hopefully do it very, very soon. thank you. >> well, thank you very, very much again, and we have, as i indicated, significant reform in here because of your leadership, and we thank you very, very much. senator bennett, we welcome your comments. let me first say as subcommittee chair on conservation, as i've said earlier, we're very, very proud of what's been done in conservation. have you been a strong advocate, tremendous leadership there in so many other areas and also in helping us as we work through some balance around dairy. we know it's 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 regard as well. >> well, thanks to that, madam chair, and i want to say thank you to the ranking member in a different way.

over the last 18 months, i've done over 20 farm bill listening sessions across colorado, from ray, to cortez, lamar and meeker, and when people ask me in these places what is wrong with you people, why can't you work together, i have the opportunity to point to the bipartisan work of this committee as an example of how we should be approaching our work all across the united states senate. and in particular with respect to the deficit reduction that's been in this bill. this committee has shown extraordinary leadership, and it 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 and the ranking committee. they worked with me and my office on several important provisions included in the bill that we're about to take up. among these are important colorado priorities, and as you mentioned in the revamped conservation title. including a new emphasis on

restoring water quantity, something very important to the west. also important is the inclusion of important provisions that strengthen conservation easements, and i hope to work with the chair and the ranking member today, and as we move to the floor on additional provisions that will help us conserve voluntarily 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, eco-systems 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 working with me on dairy

policy. for rural colorado the dairy industry has been a tremendous success story. over the next two years colorado is bringing in tens of thousands of more cows and is in 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 country. i'm holding a recent article from the "wall street journal" that highlights how a 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. thank you, madam chair. the products may be going overseas, but the jobs are created in our rural communities, and while i don't plan to offer my amendment for a stand-alone during margin and 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 this committee throughout this farm bill process to advance a dairy policies that reflects the industry's growing commitment to export communities. thank you, again, to the chair and the ranking member for all of your work getting us to this point, and i -- 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 the right balance. that really is what a farm bill is about, and we're going to continue to work with you. let me turn now to senator thune. i want to thank you 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 areas, 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'll thank ranking member roberts, first of all, to both of you for -- 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 has been pointed out and trying to accommodate the concerns that members from all different parts of the country have in representing different sometimes of commodities. this is no easy feat so congratulations to you and to senator roberts for getting to us this point and hopefully getting a bill to the floor where we can act on it and get something eventually on the president's desk which i think is the goal that everybody has in mind. this farm bill does dramatically refarm existing foreign policy by eliminating and consolidating conservation programs and replacing some with new programs, and although most

sectors of production agriculture are currently prosper out, we all know that risks are always going to be there, that crop and livestock prices and production can dramatically drop, sometimes overnight. our farmers have told every one of us on this committee that crop insurance is their primary concerning and i sincerely thank the chairman and ranking member for not only preserving but i think improving the crop insurance provisions in this bill. change is never easy, especially when it comes to changing commodity title programs. if we could see the future and look a couple of years into it, we would see how the programs that we're voting on today will work. i think that would be more comfortable, but that's a luxury that we don't have. shifting away from direct and countercyclical payments and eliminating an acre are bold changes to farm policy and the budget baseline savings we've acted published in this bill show that farmers and ranchers are willing to do more than their fair share when it comes to the issue of deficit reduction. as the chairwoman mentioned late last year two of knew colleagues

on this committee, senators brown and lugar, introduced the a.r.m. program which the congressional budget office scored to save more than $20 billion over ten years. and i appreciate that many of the components of this bill's commodity title have been built from the groundwork laid out by the a.r.m. program, including the elimb flatting of shore acre and countercyclical payments. though my preference is to have a commodity title that would have used a crop reporting district trigger coupled with a farm trigger to determine eligibility, i do accept the producer one-time choice only between a single-county trigger and a farm level trigger with differing payment levels. i believe this is a reasonable compromise, provides much more simplicity and it's easier to understand than the programs we authorized in the 2008 farm bill. additionally with usda's limited resources, i believe the programs in the commodity title will be much easier and less costly to administer. i also believe the conservation title streamlining and consolidation of programs will still provide effective tools

for farmers and ranchers to apply, needed and sound stewardship practices to preserve farm and ranch land and i'm pleased with the conversion language in this bill add in the chairwoman's mark from an amendment that i offered. the language does not prohibit a farmer from converting native sod or grassland. it reduces the crop insurance premium subsidy and applies rules that prohibit yield substitution for four years which means farmers who do convert native sod or grassland must depend on the production capability of the land not rely completely on crop insurance to turn a profit at taxpayer expense. currently policy requires that a farmer must be paid to remove the cover from certain crp practices and in commercial uses are allowed meaning that a producer cannot donate or use that hay. in most cases it must be burned which really makes no sense when areas of the country are

suffering from droughts and shortages of feed. it makes much more sense to allow commercial use that have hay, and i have the -- and to have the producer's rental payment reduces. i've been assured by committee staff that language addresses that issue and i'll withdraw that amendment but we'll be watching to make certain that we have no longer necessary destruction of cover at taxpayer expense. the peen beetle epidemic found in north dakota and the southwestern united states. the secretary must desig negotiate at least one national forest in each skate if requested by the governor of a state and based on declining forest health to carry out additional pine beetle treatment this. authorization carries an appropriation authorization of $100 million for each of the fiscal years 2013 through 2017. the peen beat 'em dem sick critical and the additional action is an excellent start to ramping up efforts to meet this