Ag Chief Lends Ear To Farmers But Glickman Can Do Little About Cuts In Crop Subsidies

For a few minutes Friday, 250 Washington and Idaho farmers gathered on a bluegrass farm south of Spokane to give advice to Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman.

They spoke of loopholes in crop insurance, burdensome regulation and State Department interference with exports. They lamented low crop prices, high business costs and congressional plans to hack 25 percent from the federal farm subsidy budget.

But as Glickman faced the expectant crowd, seated on rows of hay bales beneath an American flag, he could offer little comfort. The administration’s promise to protect farm subsidies slipped earlier this week when President Clinton caved into pressure from Congress to balance the budget and make additional cuts in agriculture.

“There’s no question we’ll see cuts,” said Glickman, a former Kansas congressman who gained a second political life after losing in the November election. “It’s our job to minimize the damage.”

Glickman’s town hall meeting at Larry Gady’s farm near Rockford was arranged by Sen. Patty Murray and the Consolidated Farm Service Agency state office in Spokane, a branch of the USDA.

The first secretary of agriculture to visit Spokane since Clayton Yeutter in 1991, Glickman stopped here at a critical time as Congress prepares to rewrite the nation’s omnibus farm bill.

With just 10 weeks on the job, Glickman clearly is at a disadvantage in the farm bill debate. His inexperience was glaring as farmers caught Glickman unable to respond to major changes in federal programs that USDA employees have lived with for months.

But Glickman listened attentively and promised to take farmers’ concerns to Washington, D.C.

Farmers welcomed Glickman’s visit, but doubted it would make much difference in the farm bill debate.

“He may hear us, but there’s not a helluva lot he can do about it,” said Bruce Carmack, a Rockford farmer. Bob Boyd, a Pullman farmer, said he was pleased that Glickman voiced support for subsidies that help export Pacific Northwest wheat.

“This guy sounds like he’s going to do us a good job,” Boyd said.

As a herd of brown and white Simmental cows grazed nearby, Glickman outlined the administration’s goals for U.S. farm policy. The program should provide a safety net of crop insurance and minimum prices to keep farmers in business; maintain export subsidies to keep U.S. products competitive; and encourage environmentally sound farming practices by paying incentives for good management.

Glickman ridiculed the Farm Freedom Act introduced this week. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Dick Zimmer, R-N.J., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., would phase out farm subsidies over five years.

“Their constituents have the cheapest food in the industrialized world,” said Glickman, shedding his suitcoat to visit farmers in shirt and tie. “Some of you ought to move to New Jersey and New York and open your farm there.”

In a press conference after the public meeting, Glickman said the administration could produce greater budget savings by increasing the number of farm acres that are not paid subsidies. He also called for elimination of payments to farmers who earn more than $100,000 in annual, off-farm income.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo