WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Susan Collins released the following statement after the Farm Bill cleared the Senate today by a vote of 64-35.
“The final version of the Senate farm bill makes some important reforms in current agriculture programs. It eliminates the terribly wasteful direct payments, consolidates and streamlines several programs, and represents a step in the right direction. It will save $23 billion over the next decade compared to current programs.
“The bill rightly supports fruit and vegetable research programs, which are critical for Maine’s potato and wild blueberry growers. It also requires USDA to assess the underlying problems in the milk pricing system that are hurting Maine dairy farmers, and I will continue to push the Department to take administrative action to address our industry’s fundamental concerns. In addition, the Senate-passed bill includes several local and organic food initiatives that are important to Maine’s agriculture community.
“Given the significant budget pressures, I am also pleased that the bill improves the effectiveness of conservation and rural energy initiatives. This bill demonstrates a continuing commitment to voluntary working lands programs that help improve stewardship practices with technical assistance and cost-share programs for working agricultural and private forest lands, including in Maine.
“The leadership of the Senate Agriculture Committee deserves credit for putting tother a bipartisan Farm Bill during this time of fervent partisanship. This bill is a welcome change from the revious reauthorization, which was loaded with wasteful spending and subsidies. However, I continue to have oncerns that the cost of this Farm Bill remains too high and that more should e done to reform agribusiness programs to help address our skyrocketing deficit. This is an area I hope the Senate and House will continue to work on as the process moves forward.”