Editorial: Feinstein, Boxer can make bad farm bill better

Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California can't continue to dodge the tough issues in this year's $286 billion farm bill. Californians now realize that this omnibus bill, like others before, is another big giveaway to wealthy farm interests with only meager nods to reform.

Like previous farm bills, the legislation passed by the House and now in the Senate includes billions of dollars in subsidies to growers and processors of wheat, corn, sugar, cotton and rice. These subsidies damage the environment. They fill up our store shelves with cheap, corn-syrupy products. They reward automaton agriculture instead of the innovative practices of many California growers.

Because of Boxer's and Feinstein's relationship with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both are in a position to influence what comes out of Congress. Yet both have been cagey about their positions, partly because of some recent deal-making.

Coming into this year's farm bill, fiscal conservatives, supporters of sustainable agriculture and California's fruit, nut and vegetable growers seemed poised to press for a reduction of farm subsidies, freeing up funding for their priorities. Yet entrenched interests were able to split this reform alliance by adding up to $2 billion in the Senate farm bill in research and support for "speciality crops." That funding has apparently bought off the fruit, nut and vegetable growers and reduced pressure on California's senators to seek real reform.

Boxer and Feinstein now need to hear from Californians who care about fiscal sanity and a healthier, cleaner food supply. Send them a message, and urge them to support these changes to the farm bill:

• An amendment by Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., that would cap a married couple to $250,000 in farm subsidy payments. This would save $500 million over five years that could be redirected to programs such as conservation and nutrition.

• An amendment by Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, and Frank Lautenberg, D-New Jersey, that would replace commodity programs with an insurance-based safety net that would protect a broad set of farmers, not just certain large growers.

• A bipartisan amendment by various senators to reform a crop insurance program that fleeces taxpayers and provides exorbitant commissions to insurance agents.

• Elimination of the "secret cow" provision. The cattle industry, wary of further mad cow scares, has inserted language in the Senate bill that would block the government from releasing any data from the National Animal Identification System. Such secrecy could prevent state health officials from tracking a disease to its source.

President Bush has threatened to veto the current Senate version of the farm bill, largely because it contains hidden accounting gimmicks and tax increases that will fatten this already overstuffed piece of pork.

Boxer and Feinstein could help craft a bill that Bush might sign.

To send a message to Feinstein, contact her San Francisco office at (415) 393-0707 or her Fresno office at (559) 485-7430. To send a message to Boxer, contact her San Francisco office at (415) 403-0100 or her Fresno office at (559) 497-5109. Or send an e-mail through their Web sites.