MISSOURI CONGRESSMAN TOUTS ALTERNATE FARM BILL

U.S. Rep Bill Emerson toured the SEMO District Fair Friday, talking with Southeast Missouri farmers a day after introducing an alternative 1995 farm bill in Washington.

He stopped by the Cape County Farm Bureau tent with his guest, John Greenway, a member of the British House of Commons. Greenway visited Emerson and the fair six years ago on official business. He is back this year on vacation.

Greenway said the Brits are experiencing many of the same debates about how much support farmers need from the government and how to balance the government's budget.

Emerson, who is vice chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said the farmers he talks to don't want to scrap America's farm policy but rather to tighten it up a bit.

The GOP is attempting to balance the budget by 2002, and $13.4 billion must be sliced from farm programs.

The farm bill introduced by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, would scrap the current system of crop subsidies in favor of a direct, declining payment to qualified farmers and would allow them freedom to plant the crops they want.

Crop set-asides now used to control supply would be abolished and the payment would not be tied to commodity price or production.

The alternative Emerson and U.S. Rep. Larry Combest of Texas have filed would keep the subsidies intact. Most of the savings would come by doubling the amount of acreage exempted from farm payments from 15 percent to 30 percent.

The measure is a response to worries about the impact of the Roberts bill -- particularly on the part of rice and cotton producers, who get a higher percentage of their income through government payments. Others are concerned the Roberts approach converts subsidies into straight welfare checks for farmers.

The farmers in Roberts district raise wheat almost exclusively, Emerson said. In Southeast Missouri, farmers raise a wide variety of crops, including rice, cotton, soybeans, corn and milo.

Emerson said his proposal gives farmers more flexibility. Farmers can respond to market signals by planting alternative crops on their acreage without being penalized the following year, he said.

Unlike other small businessmen, the congressman said, farmers are subject to the whims of nature. A flood, a hail storm or a drought can wipe out a farmer.

"That's why the government has to offer a safety net," Emerson said. "We don't want them to give up farming the land."

Roberts has scheduled an Agriculture Committee vote for Wednesday that would place his legislation in the farm spending portions of the overall budget reconciliation bill scheduled for completion by week's end.

Since no amendments are permitted on the reconciliation bill, this could be the key vote on farm legislation.

Democrats are expected to offer President Clinton's plan, which would cut $4.9 billion from farm programs over the seven-year period. It would make few changes in the subsidies but would increase farmers' ability to plant the acreage they want.

The Democrats do not have the votes for that proposal in either the House or Senate. However, the administration dislikes the Roberts bill because its direct payments could give farmers a windfall in good years.

In the current system, payments are smaller when prices are high, larger when prices drop.

(Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.)