Daily News Update, Dec. 20, 2007

Farm bill update, 12-20-07

TSCRA participated in an NCBA conference call Wednesday afternoon to receive an update on the farm bill's progress since being passed by the Senate on Dec. 14.

The farm bill is now in conference between the Senate and House. Members of the conference committee have not yet been named, but should be named in early January. Once conferees are named, it is unclear how long the conference will last—for a point of reference, the conference on the 2002 farm bill lasted three months.

U.S. Congress approved a continuing resolution in the omnibus appropriations bill Wednesday for the current farm bill and related funding until March 2008.

Some of the major issues to the cattle industry to be worked on in conference committee include:

• Removal of the Senate-approved version of the ban on packer ownership (longer than 14 days) of cattle.
   

• A Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) grandfather provision. Cattle producers are pushing for a grandfather provision to be extended six months from the date of final passage of the bill so product derived from an animal in the U.S. on or before the grandfather date would be designated of U.S. origin.
   

• Resolution of the conservation title. The House and Senate versions of the bill differ in levels of funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Grassland Reserve programs and in programmatic procedures. The bill will most likely be a combination of versions, but it is unclear at this time which provisions will be in the final version.

TSCRA will continue to keep you updated on the farm bill's progress as it happens.

Please contact Jason Skaggs, TSCRA Executive Director for Government Affairs and Public Relations, 512-517-1482 or jskaggs@texascattleraisers.org if you have questions.