Over the last couple days the U.S. Senate went through a vote-o-rama
regarding 73 proposed floor amendments to the 2012 Farm Bill that was
passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee (S.3240 Agriculture Reform,
Food, and Jobs Act of 2012). The Senate finished up on amendments this
morning rejecting a number of non-germane amendments, including one to
prohibit the EPA from using planes to survey manure spills from CAFOs,
while also failing to adopt an amendment to explicitly allow states to
label GMO products. The full Senate then voted 64-35 to pass the final as
amended Senate version of the 2012 Farm Bill!

The sustainable agriculture and good food movement did fairly well when it
came to positive amendments that improved upon the committee's bill and
defending against attacks on commodity subsidy reform, conservation and
local foods. Senator Durbin voted with the good food movement and
sustainable agriculture on nearly every single pertinent amendment. The
following is a list of some key amendments, their status and how Senator
Durbin voted (note: Senator Kirk is still inactive due to his stroke
earlier this spring):

   - *Senator Brown #2438 - Beginning Farmers & Rural Development: *Funding
   for the beginning farmer and rancher development program, value added
   producer grant program and several other rural development
programs. Adopted:
   55-44 (Senator Durbin voted Yea)
   - *Senator Grassley #2167 - Commodity Loan Limits: *Places a per farm
   cap on commodity loan benefits received by farmers as marketing loan gains
   or loan deficiency payments. Adopted: 75-24 (Senator Durbin voted Yea)
   - *Senator Toomey #2217 - Organic Cost-Share:* Eliminates all funding
   for the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. Rejected:
   42-57 (Senator Durbin voted Nay)
   - *Senator Gillibrand #2156 - Crop Insurance and SNAP: * Reduces the
   subsidy crop insurance companies receive for administering federal crop
   insurance programs and uses the savings to eliminate the cuts to the SNAP
   (food stamps program) in the underlying bill. Rejected: 33-66 (Senator
   Durbin voted Nay)
   - *Senator Chambliss #2438 - Conservation Compliance:* Establishes
   highly erodible land and wetland conservation compliance requirements for
   the Federal crop insurance program. Adopted 52-47 (Senator Durbin voted
   Yea)
   - *Senators Durbin #2439 - Crop Insurance Limits: *Reduces the amount of
   crop insurance premiums paid for by federal taxpayers for farm owners with
   over $750,000 adjusted gross incomes. Adopted: 66-33 (Senator Durbin of
   Course Voted Yea)
   - *Senator Merkley #2382 - Organic Crop Insurance: *Directs USDA to
   develop the means with which to pay organic farmers at organic rather than
   conventional prices in the event of a disaster that triggers insurance
   payments. Adopted 63-36 (Senator Durbin voted Yea)
   - *Senator Wyden - Farm-to-school Pilot Program: *The Wyden measure will
   establish five pilot programs, one in each region of the country, in which
   school food authorities can experiment with purchasing unprocessed and
   minimally processed food from local farmers rather than using the
   conventional national distribution system. Adopted by a voice vote
   - *Senator Lee #2314 - Eliminates CSP/CRP:* Abolishes the Conservation
   Stewardship Program and Conservation Reserve Program. Rejected 15-84
   (Senator Durbin voted Nay)
   - *Senator Chambliss #2432 - Farmers Market Promotion Program: *Eliminates
   all funding for the Farmers Market Promotion Program. Defeated by a
   voice vote
   - *Senator Sanders - GMO Labeling:* Explicitly permits states to require
   labeling of products containing GMOs. Rejected 26-73 (Senator Durbin voted
   No)

Thank you to everyone who called Senator Durbin over the past several
months and encouraged him to support beginning farmers, local food systems,
and sustainable agriculture. If you have a few minutes please send him an
email <http://durbin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/footer-contact?p=contact>thanking
him for his support.

The House Agriculture Committee has announced that they plan to hold
committee "mark-up" for their version of the bill the week after the July
4th congressional recess.

Sincerely,
--
Wes King
Policy Director
Illinois Stewardship Alliance
*"Local Food Matters"*
217-528-1563
www.ilstewards.org