WASHINGTON - Agriculture officials are crafting the details of a new peanut system revamped under the latest farm bill, but they're making no promises to finish before farmers go to harvest. <br>
<br>
With the decades-old quota system now replaced by a program that gives more farmers price supports but at a lower level, Department of Agriculture and Farm Services Agency workers have been under immense pressure to clarify the specific rules quickly. <br>
<br>
Although key lawmakers say they are satisfied that is happening, Wilbur Gamble - a Georgia farmer who has been highly critical of the subsidy-laced farm bill - says a delay could scare off some producers just as it's time to plant this year's crop. <br>
<br>
``Nobody right now knows who is going to have loans, how they're going to be made or if they're going to be made,'' Gamble said. ``There's going to be a lot of disruption.'' <br>
<br>
Officials say they are working as fast as they can, but some farmers in Texas figure to begin planting later this month, with Georgia and Alabama growers to follow, beginning in late August. Among the rules still undetermined are how and when the payments will be dished out - including compensation for the former quota holders and which agency will write the checks. Gamble says farmers also seek a written assurance that the government will foot the bill for storage. <br>
<br>
``The money is determined, but I can understand the growers are concerned about who they're going to get this money from,'' said Solomon Whitfield, acting director of FSA's tobacco and peanut division. <br>
<br>
Agriculture officials are faced with a huge task because the new 10-year farm package rewrites the rules for all crops, although likely none sees a greater change than peanuts. <br>
<br>
Since the Great Depression, the quota system has propped up the prices of peanuts, sometimes allowing farmers to more than double the price they could have received on the open market. Although many lawmakers from Southeastern peanut states would have liked to see that system continue, they realized their colleagues likely wouldn't agree and crafted what they considered a fair alternative for both quota and non-quota farmers. <br>
<br>
Alabama Rep. Terry Everett, a Republican who leads an Agriculture panel on peanuts and other specialty crops, said administration officials appear to be carefully studying the new regulations and soliciting advice from growers, lobbyists and lawmakers. <br>
<br>
``They're doing it kind of slow, but I can't disagree with it because they're trying to get it right the first time,'' Everett said. <br>
<br>
Several weeks ago, Georgia Sen. Zell Miller tried to expedite the process by sending a letter urging Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to finish the peanut rules first because of the vast changes. Miller said he is satisfied with the effort. <br>
<br>
``I haven't heard any complaints about their progress so far,'' said Miller, a Democrat on the Agriculture Committee. ``They're not having to reinvent the wheel here. They're looking at and borrowing from rules of other commodity programs.'' <br>
<br>
Miller said he had received assurances that officials were on pace to finish the regulations in August, but Whitfield said September might be a better estimate. <br>
<br>
Even when USDA completes the process, it will have to allow another 30 days for a comment period that figures to generate plenty of comment. One misplaced word or unclear phrase in a payment plan could have a major effect on farmers, one peanut lobbyist says. <br>
<br>
``This is so new, our program has made such a historical change, they have got to give us room to revisit some of these issues,'' said Bob Redding, chief lobbyist for the Georgia Peanut Commission. ``It's a learning process for both the industry and the regulators."
