The U.S. Senate is expected to conduct a – cloture vote – today on the next farm bill. The vote would test the strength of the bill’s mostly Southern opponents and get the ball rolling on negotiations.  Negotiations could take up most of June.

The most controversial feature is a revamp of the crop subsidy system; 5-billion dollars  annually in direct payments to farmers would be replaced with a bolstered federal crop insurance system and a new “shallow loss” program that pays farmers for sustained annual losses on what they grow.

Southerners say the new system would hurt cotton and peanut farmers more than the wheat, corn and soybean farmers For urban America, the most controversial feature is a 23-billion dollar cut in food stamps during the next decade.

As what may be the next farm bill moves through the U.S. Senate, The American Farmland Trust hopes the leadership’s engagement will build on the strong bipartisan effort begun by Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Roberts.  AFT has frequently urged Congress to address crucial conservation and farm production issues this year rather than delay the legislation any further.

AFT says – American farmers and ranchers are under continued pressure from growing global demand to produce food, fiber and fuel while also maintaining healthy soils, protecting water quality, improving water conservation and providing wildlife habitat.  Renewing the farm bill this year is fundamental to meeting that challenge.

AFT points to two program proposals as being positives. The first would establish the Regional Conservation Partnership Program which would give producers and conservationists a tool to come together to address natural resource concerns. And the second program would merge the functions of the Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program with the Grassland Reserve Program.

A group of more than 70 agriculture organizations wants to include a provision in the next farm bill that would establish a Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research. In a letter to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas and Ranking Member Collin Peterson, the groups are urging the House Agriculture Committee to take action comparable to the FFAR provision included in the Senate Agriculture Committee’s recently-approved Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012.

In their letter the groups point out that – FFAR would complement and add to USDA’s portfolio of intramural and extramural research programs that help solve current and future challenges facing agriculture, develop new opportunities for American agriculture, and bring innovative technology from laboratory to marketplace. They say – increased investments in food and agricultural research are essential to maintaining our nation’s food, economic and national security.

Steve Wellman, President of the American Soybean Association and a soybean farmer from Syracuse, Nebraska, says – agricultural research holds innumerable benefits for the soybean industry, and our farmers depend on a robust research framework to continue the stream of innovative products and processes that enable the industry to be as productive as it can be.

As the Senate considers the 2012 Farm Bill – the National Foreign Trade Council is urging Senators to support reform of U.S. sugar policy. According to a letter sent to all Senators – the current policy restricts imports of sugar and negatively impacts U.S. trade relations. According to NFTC President Bill Reinsch – the sugar program – in its current form – sets artificially low import quotas and applies high tariffs on imports exceeding those limits. He says the General Accounting Office estimated in 2000 that the sugar program costs American refiners, consumers and manufacturers approximately 1.9-billion dollars each year. Reinsch says a more recent study from Iowa State researchers puts the cost at up to 3.5-billion dollars annually.

Maintaining these restrictions – according to Reinsch – also carries a high price in trade negotiations. He says they bind the hands of our trade negotiators and place them at a disadvantage with our foreign counterparts in the negotiating process. He says this has often led to less market access for other U.S. ag goods like beef, rice and soybeans. He says NFTC believes continuing the current sugar program conflicts with national goals of export promotion and an open rules-based trading system.

NFTC is a member of the Coalition for Sugar Reform.

Congressional Quarterly reports this could be a make or break week for the highway bill. It appears it could be difficult to complete work on the bill before the federal highway and transit programs expire at the end of the month. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania – the House GOP leadership’s principal delegate to the talks – says the bill will fail if negotiators can’t get serious about finding common ground. The Keystone XL oil pipeline is one area where conferees have yet to agree. If there isn’t a clear breakthrough in a few days – it’s expected the House will look to move another bill to keep the programs running in the short-term – perhaps until after the elections.

Biodiesel leaders are visiting with lawmakers and Administration officials in the nation’s capital this week. They are asking Congress to extend the expired biodiesel tax incentive and urging the Obama Administration to quickly finalize the EPA’s proposal to grow biodiesel volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard next year. National Biodiesel Board Vice President of Federal Affairs Anne Steckel says the delay on these issues has effectively halted the momentum built last year when the biodiesel industry produced a record of nearly 1.1-billion gallons. She adds that the failure to act is locking up millions of dollars in investments that could be creating jobs and driving economic growth.

Steckel says the EPA’s proposal to increase the biodiesel volume requirement under the RFS to 1.28-billion gallons in 2013 has the support of USDA but has been delayed for nearly a year without explanation or justification. She says the Administration can follow through with its all of the above energy rhetoric by finalizing the proposal – and notes they can do it tomorrow without waiting on Congress. Steckel says the biodiesel tax incentive has broad bipartisan support – but Congress allowed it to expire on December 31st. While admitting there is no magic bullet for fighting high gas prices – Steckel says we can chip away at the problem by diversifying our supplies through strong, proven domestic energy policies like these.