> ![](media/image1.jpeg){width="6.602777777777778in"
> height="1.479861111111111in"}

Release No. 0194.02

> **of**
>
> **Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman**
>
> **To USDA Employees**

## Regarding Farm Bill Implementation

# **Wednesday, May 15, 2002**

> **Washington, D.C.**
>
> **MR. PENN**
>
> Good afternoon, everyone. My name is J.B. Penn. I am the Under
> Secretary for the Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Mission area.
> I want to welcome all of you here this afternoon to discuss
> implementation of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002,
> signed into law on Monday.
>
> In the audience today, we have employees from all of the agencies
> across the Department. We are also joined via satellite by FSA\'s
> State Executive Directors who are meeting in Rhode Island and by other
> USDA employees all across the country via webcast.
>
> On stage with me today are the Honorable Secretary Ann M. Veneman;
> Deputy Secretary Jim Moseley; Hunt Shipman, the Deputy in Farm and
> Foreign Agriculture Services on the end; and Jim Little, Administrator
> of FSA; and Bruce Knight, the Chief of NRCS.
>
> This new farm bill is a very complex law that affects all of USDA\'s
> agencies, all of our activities, all of our resources. Many of you
> joining us here today will be on the front line implementing the
> provisions of this new law, and throughout the upcoming months, all of
> us are going to be challenged to ensure timely and effective delivery
> of services to our farmers and ranchers, and to ensure the integrity
> of all USDA programs.
>
> We want to use the occasion today to hear directly from Secretary
> Veneman about her expectations for all of us. If you would, please
> join me in welcoming Secretary Ann M. Veneman, the 27th Secretary of
> Agriculture.
>
> **\[Applause.\]**
>
> -more-
>
> -2-
>
> **SECRETARY VENEMAN**:
>
> 'Well, thank you very much, and thank you all for being here. This is
> a terrific turnout, here in the Jefferson Auditorium, and thanks to
> all of you who are joining us either by telephone line or broadcast to
> join in our conference today.
>
> "As you know, just on Monday, the President signed the Farm Security
> and Rural Investment Act of 2002. He signed it almost immediately upon
> receiving it from the Congress. I know a lot of people were surprised
> that he got up so early and signed it at 7:45 in the morning, but that
> was really so that he was out there doing it at the same time that
> farmers and ranchers were in their pickups and working on their farms
> and ranches.
>
> "It also gives us the opportunity, here at USDA, to begin
> implementation immediately because we want to, effectively and
> efficiently, deliver the new programs and services to this nation\'s
> farmers, ranchers and other constituencies around the country.
>
> "This new farm bill is very important for this Department. The new
> programs are widespread and impact so many sectors\--the Farm Service
> Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Rural Development,
> Nutrition, Food Safety, Research, Pest and Disease Prevention and
> Eradication, and of course our international trade programs.
>
> "As the President said on Monday when he signed the bill, while it\'s
> not a perfect bill, the new measure provides support and help for
> farmers and ranchers and our other constituencies.
>
> "The farm bill is generous and provides a safety net for farmers that
> helps ensure certainty in the coming years. And, it helps eliminate
> the reliance on supplemental assistance each year that we have had to
> turn to for about the past four years. The bill rebalances loan rates,
> lives within the Congressional Budget Resolution, and it is consistent
> with our international trade obligations.
>
> "But now the hard work begins, and that is implementing this new farm
> bill. And that is why we are here today; to talk about the challenges,
> the opportunities, and the work all of our employees here at USDA will
> do in getting this job done.
>
> "As you know, the focus now shifts from Capitol Hill to those of us
> here at USDA. The task before us is to implement the bill as
> effectively and expeditiously as we possibly can. It is an enormous
> challenge, but I am confident, from talking to so many of you over the
> past few months, that we are up to it.
>
> "The new farm bill makes significant changes in farm program structure
> and funding and will bring much-needed stability to our farmers and
> ranchers as they conduct their business.
>
> -more-
>
> -3-
>
> "The new farm law is far reaching in its scope and highly complex in
> its structure. Many changes were made to existing programs, and
> several new programs were created as well.
>
> "For our purposes today, I would like to highlight some of the more
> relevant provisions of the new law.
>
> "First, it continues direct payments based on historical plantings and
> yields;
>
> "It creates a new system of countercyclical payments based on market
> prices in relation to target prices;
>
> "It revises and rebalances the loan rates for the marketing loan
> program for major grains and oilseeds;
>
> "It adds new payment programs for dairy, honey, wool, mohair and
> pulses, that is, dry peas, lentils and chickpeas;
>
> "It makes significant changes to the peanut program;
>
> "It includes a number of new provisions in the credit title to assist
> beginning farmers and makes other administrative changes to existing
> farm loan programs. It provides record level support for conservation,
> and adds new programs to preserve wetlands and improve soil and water
> quality on working farms. The conservation program funding totals \$22
> billion over 6 years.
>
> "These are just the parts related to the farm and conservation
> programs. The law has 10 titles in all and affects virtually
> everything we do here at USDA. It is compassionate and provides new
> support for food stamp and nutrition programs. It provides additional
> tools to support the expansion of trade for our products.
>
> "There is, for the first time in a farm bill, an energy title that
> will help us look at agriculture for new and additional renewable
> sources of energy. It also addresses the need for more value-added
> agriculture and it invests in this critical area. The bill also
> invests in more research, animal and plant disease protections, food
> safety and rural development programs.
>
> "As you know, those are all areas that we discussed in our book that
> we put out last fall, \"Food and Agriculture Policy, Taking Stock for
> a New Century.\" They\'re all important to what the Department does
> and to our mission. And now we have an opportunity to implement these
> new programs, to help our nation\'s food and farm sector.
>
> -more-
>
> -4-
>
> "Now, I know that many of you in this room have provided significant
> policy and technical information and advice to the Congressional
> Committees and the conference committee over the past several months
> as this bill has been going through the process. You have been
> involved in numerous meetings and conference calls, and you are
> expected to respond at a moment\'s notice. Many of you have spent late
> evenings, weekends, a tremendous amount of overtime on the part of so
> many on our staff has gone into helping the Congress craft this new
> bill.
>
> "For your dedication and for all of your efforts, I want to say thank
> you. Thank yourselves.
>
> **\[Applause.\]**
>
> "We are all very pleased with the contributions that the USDA team
> made throughout the farm bill process.
>
> "Now I wish I could tell you that the long hours are behind us. But as
> you know, they\'re not. Much of the implementation burden now falls to
> FSA and NRCS, who have the lion\'s share of the bill\'s provisions,
> and I know that all of our employees are up to this task.
>
> "To assist in the farm bill implementation process, we are announcing
> today the formation of a USDA Farm Bill Working Group consisting of
> our key career staff, including our budget director, Steve Dewhurst,
> and chief economist, Keith Collins, as well as the entire sub-cabinet.
> It is important that we have representation from each mission area, as
> well as the various staff offices and throughout our career employees.
>
> "Career employees play such an integral role in the process and have
> the institutional knowledge that is so important to implementation of
> all of these programs. While the process has been in place informally
> for several months, it is important that we all continue to work
> together with the appropriate mission areas to implement this new
> bill. The implementation of programs spans across all mission areas of
> the Department. Numerous new rules and regulations, procedures and
> delegations of authorities and inter-agency clearances and reports and
> advisory committees are going to be required.
>
> "So this process will help us better coordinate our activities to set
> the priorities for what needs to be done most urgently, to facilitate
> development of regulations and to obtain all the needed clearances
> expeditiously. In short, our goal is to cut the red tape and get the
> job done.
>
> "Now, let me mention just a few of the more important aspects of this
> implementation process. A major feature of this new bill gives
> producers the option of updating historical acreage bases and yields
> for 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 to determine their future program
> benefits. This is going to be one of the biggest challenges before us.
> It requires a significant addition to the producer\'s database in each
> county office. It will
>
> -more-
>
> -5-
>
> also require a substantial amount of personal interaction with our
> producers in our county offices, helping them determine which option
> is in their best interest. Getting this task completed in a timely
> manner is critical.
>
> "We\'ve been administering the last year of the FAIR Act while this
> new farm bill was being developed. We have already provided some \$4
> billion in direct payments to producers this year. The new law
> provides some additional direct payments for the 2002 crop year and
> these will be made in the fall using updated acreage bases.
>
> "The new law also requires, for a first installment of the 2003 direct
> payments, in December of 2002.
>
> And the new law requires, for the first advance countercyclical
> payments for 2002 in October, and a second advance in February of
> 2003. A final payment will be made at the end of the marketing year
> for each commodity once the final season average price is known.
>
> "The marketing loan program continues to operate largely as before,
> but with readjusted loan rates for most crops. The new loan rates are
> applicable immediately to the 2002 harvested crops beginning with
> wheat, which is now being harvested.
>
> "The new law substantially revises the peanut program, providing a
> buyout of the quota system that\'s been in place since the 1930s. It
> establishes a marketing loan program and now includes peanut growers
> in the direct payment and countercyclical payment programs that are
> similar to other program crops.
>
> "This change alone adds to the workload to our county offices, and it
> will require considerable time with our producers to work through and
> explain the new program provisions.
>
> "This bill also includes the largest increase in conservation programs
> ever in a farm bill. It is adding an 80 percent increase in funding
> for conservation, 85 percent of which will go to addressing
> conservation concerns on working farmland.
>
> "As you\'ll recall, in our agricultural policy book we talked about
> the critical importance of giving producers assistance for working
> farmlands in the conservation area. But with this good fortune, of
> course, comes additional work for both NRCS and Farm Service Agency
> staff. Our service centers will be busy accepting applications for the
> numerous existing programs, which have received funding increases in
> this bill. Many of the landowners will require technical assistance
> from our NRCS staff, and FSA will continue its role of processing
> payments for conservation programs.
>
> "While I\'m on the subject of conservation, I want to welcome
> officially Bruce Knight, our new chief of the Natural Resources
> Conservation Service. Stand up, Bruce, be recognized.
>
> -more-
>
> -6-
>
> **\[Applause.\]**
>
> "I recognize Bruce Knight today because it\'s probably the first time
> that many of you have had the opportunity to meet him, particularly in
> his new role, because he\'s only been on the job two weeks, and look
> what he\'s getting into.
>
> "We\'ve been emphasizing greater cooperation among mission areas and
> agencies throughout my time here, and I\'m very pleased to hear that
> Bruce Knight and Jim Little have already been meeting to discuss how
> NRCS and FSA can better work together, how they plan to meet
> regularly, and particularly how they can work together to implement
> the various farm bill programs.
>
> "I think this is the kind of teamwork we need to foster in this
> Department, and it\'s going to be particularly critical as we
> implement this new farm bill.
>
> "So I encourage all of you to follow the example that\'s set by our
> sub-Cabinet and our administrators and work closely with your
> colleagues in the field and throughout the Department so that we can
> put together the best programs that we possibly can based upon this
> new farm bill.
>
> "FSA has already taken a number of important steps to begin the
> implementation process. They include the launch of a farm bill
> implementation website, which can be accessed through our website,
> www.usda.gov. I\'m sure all of you are looking at that every day. But
> this is going to be a very valuable resource, a unique and new
> resource to help keep the farmers and the public informed about
> implementation, and it will help relieve some of the burden on the
> county offices by directing questions and answers to a single source.
>
> "It will be important to continue the development of web-based tools
> to assist farmers and ranchers in understanding and in delivery of
> farm programs.
>
> "Implementing e-government which will soon\--will soon allow producers
> to complete and submit some of their forms online, again, will make
> the workload more efficient.
>
> "Meeting with representatives of selected farm commodity,
> conservation, and environmental organizations to discuss
> implementation issues and data availability will be a priority.
>
> "We will also be prioritizing and anticipating policy issues, and we
> will be developing new forms and fact sheets and posting them online
> as soon as possible.
>
> "The Farm Service Agency will be training county office staff and
> informing producers about their bases and yields options.
>
> -more-
>
> -7-
>
> "Along with direct communications from the county offices, there will
> be radio spots and other public relations tools to help get the
> message to producers on the farm bill provisions and the time lines.
>
> "Let me conclude today with three basic points.
>
> "First, and most important, thank you. Thank you to all the USDA
> employees for their hard work, their extra efforts during the
> development of this bill. You are truly appreciated for all that you
> do on behalf of our farmers and our ranchers and our entire
> Department.
>
> "We face a big challenge in implementing this legislation in a timely
> manner, but we are prepared and we are up to the task. Your good
> efforts will, again, be appreciated.
>
> "You\'ve delivered in the past, and you are the experts, the career
> force that continues to raise the bar and achieve great things.
>
> "Finally, let me say to all producers who may be listening to this: We
> need your cooperation, your patience, and your support in the coming
> months. Many of you have already heard directly from your county
> offices, and please continue to work closely with them to make sure
> that together we can all get the job done in an efficient, timely, and
> productive manner.
>
> "It is a pleasure to be here today. Again, thank you to all of you for
> your help and assistance and your excellent work. And we truly
> appreciate all your efforts in this process, and we\'ll work together
> as a team and get this done.
>
> "Thank you very much."
>
> **\[Applause.\]**
>
> **\#**