URBANDALE, Iowa - After reviewing the Alternative Farm Bill Plan released Wednesday, Iowa Soybean Association leaders expressed disappointment at the provisions, which they say “extend and worsen the inequities in support for soybeans and biodiesel from the 2002 Farm Bill.”

Ron Heck, ISA board member from Perry and chairman of the Iowa/Illinois Farm Issues Task Force that spent more than 15 months studying various farm bill possibilities, says, “The 2008 Farm Bill already has a projected budget score for commodities that is more than a 40 percent drop from the 2002 Farm Bill. The current safety net has cost less than projected in 2002, and it is projected to cost even less in the future. A further drop in payments, some of which would not occur until soybean prices drop 60 percent from their current level, shreds the safety net.”

Heck also criticized the administration for its recommendation to cut LDPs – which have never been paid – in order to get a better budget score, so policy makers can spend the extra money outside of the commodity title. Yet rice and cotton are exempted from the cuts.

“Soybeans have not received any marketing loan payments during the entire 2002 Farm Bill, and this proposal makes any future payments even less likely,” explains Heck.

Earlier this week, ASA President John Hoffman from Waterloo, Iowa, strongly opposed the proposal, saying, “The plan reverses ASA’s work to provide more equitable income support to soybean producers and sufficient funding to make U.S. biodiesel producers competitive with imported biodiesel. The plan also makes changes to the loan deficiency payment program that dramatically weakens the income safety net. It puts soybean, corn and other feed grains at a disadvantage compared to current law.”

Iowa Soybean Association President Curt Sindergard of Rolfe, Iowa, echoed Hoffman’s and Heck’s dissatisfaction with the House/Administration proposal, agreeing that its enactment would place Iowa soybean farmers at a far greater disadvantage than an extension of the 2002 Farm Bill. “We’ll be weighing in with our conferees,” Sindergard promised. He urged Iowa Soybean Association members to call congressional members at 202-224-3121 and the administration at 202-456-1414.