White House blocks ‘green’ farm payments: senators

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House budget office is
preventing the government from enrolling farmers in a program
that pays them to be good stewards of their land, the leaders
of the Senate Agriculture Committee said on Friday.

In a letter, the leaders said “unnecessary, bureaucratic”
delays will frustrate farmers and ranchers while making it
harder for Congress to assess the value of the Conservation
Security Program (CSP).

The letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns urged that
enrollment be held during winter, when farmers plan their
operations for the growing season. It was signed by chairman
Saxby Chambliss, Georgia Republican, and Tom Harkin of Iowa,
the Democratic leader on the panel.

They said an Agriculture Department agency “is ready to
begin enrollment but is being prohibited by the Office of
Management and Budget from doing so.”

It was the second letter to Johanns this month to urge a
timely enrollment for CSP, created in 2002 and given $259
million for fiscal 2006.

On January 10, eight farm and conservation groups told
Johanns, “It is critical to the ultimate success of the program
for enrollment to be open during the winter months when many
farmers and ranchers have more time to work through the
planning process.”

Signing that letter were the American Farm Bureau
Federation, American Soybean Association, National Association
of Conservation Districts, National Association of Wheat
Growers, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers
Union, Soil and Water Conservation Society, and Sustainable
Agriculture Coalition.