| WASHINGTON (AP) - Agriculture Secretary-designate Ann
Veneman pledged Thursday to be a forceful advocate for farm interests but
deflected most questions about specific positions on farm and food policy.
Testifying at her Senate confirmation hearing, Veneman said farmers
would need more federal aid to cope with low commodity prices and assured
farm-state senators she will push agricultural interests within the
incoming Bush administration on environmental regulations and other
issues.
She also said she would protect livestock producers by using the
department's antitrust authority "to its maximum degree."
Veneman is expected to win easy confirmation, possibly as early as
Saturday, despite some nervousness about the Californian among farmers in
the Midwest. They fear that she will lack sensitivity for the interests of
Midwest farms, which are generally family-operated and much smaller than
the corporate operations that dominate California's agriculture industry.
"The issues facing the farmers and ranchers today are complex and
challenging," Veneman told the Senate Agriculture Committee.
"The hard-working men and women who provide our food and fiber have
been tested by low prices, bad weather and other adversities."
Veneman, a lawyer and trade expert, worked at USDA from 1986 to 1993,
eventually rising to deputy secretary, the agency's No. 2 post. She later
served as agriculture secretary in California, the nation's leading
producer of farm commodities.
Outgoing Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said he appealed to Veneman
not to roll back food-safety rules and forest protections imposed by the
Clinton administration. Over Republican opposition, the department
recently declared 58.5 million acres of national forests off-limits to new
road building and most logging.
She did not address forest policy but endorsed the use of microbial
testing standards to reduce pathogens in meat, an area where the
department has been battling with the meat industry.
"My record speaks for itself. ... I will certainly continue that
commitment to ensure the safest food supply we can possibly have in this
country," she said.
A federal judge agreed with the meat industry that the tests were not a
fair measure of whether a plant was sanitary and barred USDA from shutting
down a facility that had flunked them.
The nation's agricultural economy remains in the doldrums, propped up
by federal aid. The government estimates farm earnings will drop about 10
percent this year without a fourth bailout in as many years from Congress.
High energy prices also are expected to cut into farm income.
"It's important that we continue the safety nets. I'm not prepared
to say what form that should take," she said.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., told her, "We're sitting on an economic
and energy powder keg with regard to rural America."
Veneman also deflected questions about what the Bush administration
would do to promote the use of ethanol, a gasoline additive made from
corn. But she said she would "express the strong interests of
production agriculture."
As for environmental policy, she said regulations on farming
"should be based on sound scientific principles" and provide
incentives to farmers to comply. She did not say, however, whether she
would support expansion of federal conservation programs that pay
producers not to farm environmentally sensitive land out.
Consumer advocates and environmentalists have praised Veneman for her
reputation of openness and are not expected to oppose her confirmation. |