There's a Chinese saying that "good things come in pairs." But, the Ruminant imagines that saying refers to shoes, oars, or ears, not farm bills.

Apparently, the House Agriculture Committee thinks two farm bills are better than one.

Last week, Chairman Collin Peterson announced that he would bring two farm bills to the floor of the House:

• one that largely extends the current Farm Bill, which was crafted before the ethanol mandate, before the energy crisis, before WTO challenges to our subsidies, and before the launch of this blog.
• a second that includes "reserve" funds to help fruit and vegetable producers and to meet America's hunger, health, energy and environmental challenges — but which makes those "reserve" funds contigent upon cuts elsewhere in the federal budget.

In this case "reserve" means "not real."

But as one legislator told the Ruminant, some advocates for the hungry, healthy food choices, and habitat are easily distracted by the false promise of "reserve" funds — sort of like a bass distracted by a shiny lure.

Despite record prices for corn and soybeans caused by the ethanol mandate, Chairman Peterson's proposal would still provide $13 billion in direct payments over five years to the producers of feed grains.

Considering the fact that that 20 districts collect half of all farm spending — and that most of those districts are represented on the Agriculture Committee — it's no suprise to the Ruminant that Committee members would "circle the wagons" to defend depression-era subsidies, as one committee member said.

What is suprising to the Ruminant is that House leaders would permit Chairman Collin Peterson to bring a Farm Bill to the House floor that throws hungry kids under the bus so soybean farmers can get an extra 44 cents per bushel. Even former Democratic legislators like Tom Daschle and Charlie Stenholm — who crafted the 2002 Farm Bill — say direct payments should be cut to meet other priorities and to keep soaring land prices from driving small producers off the farm.

As the Des Moines Register and Washington Post recently noted, time is running our for House leaders to craft a farm bill that reflects the real needs of farmers, including our fruit and vegetable farmers, and that meets America's other big challenges.

So, the Ruminant asks, why stop at two?

By failing to craft a farm bill that can earn the support of a majority of House members, Chairman Peterson and House leaders have paved the way for reformers to craft a farm bill thathelps farmers weather the ups and downs of agriculture but that also meets America's energy, environment, health and hunger needs.