Byron Dorgan: “last week, I was among a group of Senators who tried to correct an inequitable payment reduction in farm program…”

“last week, I was among a group of Senators who tried to correct an inequitable payment reduction in farm program contract payments faced by barley growers. After considerable time and effort we reluctantly came to an agreement on an amendment to address this problem. At the time, I said it was not the answer to the problem, but rather a small step in the journey. Unfortunately that journey ended up being a very short one that quickly got sidetracked. Despite the fact that the Senate agreed to the amendment to provide some relief to barley growers, the conference report came back this week with no additional funds to deal with this problem. The Senate amendment was deleted. Instead the conferees referred the issue back to the authorizing committee and then provided an unfunded directive to the Secretary of Agriculture to deal with the problem. At the time we agreed to the Senate amendment, I was concerned that this would be the outcome. Another referral and no real action. Barley growers deserve more than that. The freedom to farm fixed contract payment system has been violated, and the Government is once again being viewed as not keeping its word. While the freedom to farm bill was not my choice for farm legislation, I believe the promises it made to producers constitutes a public commitment that should be kept. It appears that the only way that commitment can be met is if legislation is introduced to require that such action be taken.”