Southeastern lawmakers: New peanut plan dodges bullet in Senate

Posted 8:41PM on Tuesday 12th February 2002 ( 23 years ago )

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers from two peanut-rich states clashed Tuesday over what's best for their farmers as the Senate debated a farm bill expected to revamp the decades-old peanut program. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., introduced a surprise amendment late in the day that would delay for a year a plan to phase out government-assigned peanut quotas in an effort to level the field among farmers. But when Southeastern lawmakers complained the delay would cause even more economic headaches for the farmers, Inhofe agreed to withdraw the amendment. An aide said he would renew his efforts when House and Senate negotiators convene to finalize a farm bill. Inhofe said farmers in his state urged the delay because they were having trouble getting loans from banks uncertain whether the old or new system would be in place for the upcoming crop season. But Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat who helped shepherd peanut interests through the Senate Agriculture Committee, said the measure would have the opposite effect. ``We're trying to figure out who this helps,'' Miller said. ``In my opinion, every segment of the industry loses under this amendment.'' That was also the position of the Alabama Peanut Producers Association, the industry's chief lobbying group in that state. Executive director Randy Griggs said a delay would likely mean peanut farmers would be charged by the government for overproduction losses from previous years. ``If you delay it, it's going to cause market disruption for another year,'' Griggs said. ``That's not fair to producers.'' Bob Redding, lobbyist for the Georgia Peanut Commission, said the measure could ``unravel 18 months of negotiations.'' But Inhofe's plan won the endorsement of Wilbur Gamble, a Georgia quota holder who has been leading a charge to preserve the system. ``I just don't believe we're going to really have time to get rid of this program and do it in the way it ought to be done,'' Gamble said. Since the Great Depression, many owners of peanut-rich land, especially in the Southeast, have been propped up by government quotas guaranteeing them a rather lofty floor price on every ton of the crop they sell. Some used the quotas themselves while others rented them out to farmers. But with dwindling congressional support to continue the program, the House agreed last year to phase out the quota system over five years and modestly compensate quota holders at 10 cents a pound. The Senate farm bill being considered this week does largely the same thing. Also Tuesday, Miller joined with several other Southeastern lawmakers to propose a less-controversial amendment slightly boosting the payout to quota holders to 11 cents a pound. The Senate approved it without objection. ``This will help ease the transition for thousands of retired peanut farmers who invested in peanut quota as their pension plan,'' Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., said in a floor speech.

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