Is Ed Schafer pro- or anti-farmer?

Ed Schafer is walking a fine line. On one side is his new boss, the President. On the other side are farmers from his home state.

As Secretary of Agriculture, Schafer is reaffirming the Administration’s hard line on the Farm Bill. President Bush promises to veto any farm legislation that raises taxes, or does not reform farm subsidy programs.

Schafer, a former two-term North Dakota governor, was sworn in Wednesday.

At issue is the five-year $286 billion Farm Bill already passed by both House and Senate.

Schafer, a moderate Republican, has already borne the brunt of a burgeoning public criticism of his action by folks from his home state. In the world of pork, more money in a Farm Bill translates into more money for North Dakota.

Well, kinda.

The Administration’s tough stance is bolstered by current record prices garnered for farm products. It’s hard to feel sorry for farmers coming off the best year in history.

The Administration’s desire to ban subsidies to farmers with gross incomes exceeding $200,000 a year is not preposterous at all.

North Dakota ranks ninth in total direct payments to farmers. Those payments approximate $225 million each year. Wheat benefits, alone, total $159 million annually.

According to information gleaned from http://www.ewg.org, known for analyzing farm bill data, 222 individual North Dakota farmers received $40,000 or more in direct benefits in 2005. That same source claimed there were 3,109 farmers who received more in federal direct payments than the average adjusted gross income for North Dakota.

Nationally, again referencing ewg.org, the USDA attributes 66 percent of crop subsidy benefits to 10 percent of the beneficiaries of those programs.

For the sake of information sharing, 21 N.D. farm businesses received more than $100,000 in direct payment in 2005. Three farm businesses (including Dalrymple Farms of Casselton, ranking second at $226,970) got more than $200,000 in 2005.

So, back to Ed Schafer and to the Administration’s position on tightening up the Farm Bill. In some regards, everyone is right. And, similarly, everyone is wrong.

In light of the spiraling energy economy, there ought to be no surprises that farm commodity prices are at record levels. But, also like the energy sector, farm profits are approaching record highs.

Very few argue that there should not be a safety net for farmers when weather-related disasters hit. That’s a no-brainer.

To advocate for the rich getting richer, however, is not an easy position to champion publicly. But a close study of those names explains that: there are many prominent political stalwarts on both sides of the political aisles getting thousands upon thousands in farm subsidy payments annually.

When the economy in general is tanking, it is difficult to support giving disproportionate monies to the wealthier few, even if they may be farmers here in North Dakota.

In principle, we can see Ed Schafer sincerely believing that the Administration’s conservative stance on certain aspects of the Farm Bill is warranted.

Practically speaking, we can see where North Dakotans do not easily separate the wheat from the chaff and denounce Schafer as being anti-farmer because he supports the President’s demand that the Farm Bill pork be trimmed.

Don’t be surprised, though, when you see an alliance between Schafer and the ND congressional delegation that will corral interests on both sides and will lead to a compromise Farm Bill more than appeasing both sides of the aisle.

Again, according to the ewg.org website, there were direct farm subsidy payments to 36,159 ND farmers in 2004. That same year, there were 18,514 children under the age of 18 in North Dakota living below the poverty level.

Food for thought.