This commentary was written by Roger Allbee of Townshend, former Vermont Secretary of Agriculture. Allbee has served on the staff of the House Committee on Agriculture for the late Congressman Jim Jeffords and writes articles on the history of Vermont agriculture.
The retirement of Vermont U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy at the end of this year is a historic event for a variety of reasons. For one thing, he is the longest serving U.S. senator from Vermont in history. And, while many are aware of the role he played as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Appropriations, Leahy also should be remembered for his distinguished service on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
The Senate Agriculture Committee and its counterpart in the House are among the oldest panels in Congress. The House committee was established in 1820, and the Senate committee in 1825. The two panels were established at a time when agriculture was considered to be “one of the three great branches of domestic industry.” In the 1800s, 90 percent of the population lived on farms, compared to today, where it is less than two percent. But the importance of the two committees remains great.
Vermonters have a long history of playing a prominent role in shaping policies relating to U.S. agriculture. For example, William Jarvis, U.S. consul to Portugal and Spain under President Thomas Jefferson, later became a resident of Weathersfield. Jarvis had imported Merino sheep from Spain and was the person behind the sheep craze. In the early 1800s, he was an outspoken advocate to our congressional delegation and other federal leaders of the need for tariffs on imported wool. These tariffs were essential, he argued, for our sheep industry to survive against price competition from imports.
In 1862, Congress passed truly historic legislation, the Land Grant College Act, that reshaped American agriculture as well as U.S. higher education. Vermont’s Justin Morrill was chief sponsor of the legislation in the Senate. Later, Vermont got behind the Hatch Act in 1887 which created the federal agricultural experiment stations at the Land Grant Colleges.
Congressman Wallace Grout (1885-1901) stood up for Vermont’s dairy sector by leading the fight against margarine. Vermont U.S. Sen. Redfield Proctor was chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture in the 1890s. Gov. George Aiken opposed the New Deal program to take over “submarginal lands” (1934-36) and the conversion of these lands to public domain. But, with other governors in the Northeast, he supported federal dairy price regulation coming out of the Agricultural Adjustment Acts of the 1930’s. As a Senator, Aiken was a strong proponent of cooperatives, food stamps, rural electric, surplus food distribution, crop insurance, food for peace and other policies. It is said that in his thirty-four years in the Senate (1941-1975), Aiken had his imprint on every major piece of legislation considered by the committee during that time.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 is considered the first farm bill. In 1938, Congress began passing omnibus farm bills every four to five years. Farm bills have evolved over time and are now a comprehensive package of titles relating not only to agriculture but to conservation, rural development, research, extension, education, food assistance, energy, climate, and other issues that affect every aspect of rural America today.
The most recent farm bill (2018) has twelve separate titles. Nutrition programs in the farm bill now account for about three-fourths of projected outlays. But the Agriculture Committee considers more than farm bills. The committee also wrote The Food and Drug Act of 1906/07; the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 that created the county, state and federal Extension Service; the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 and Agricultural Credit Act of 1923; the Capper-Volstead Act of 1922 that is considered the “Magna Carta” of agricultural cooperatives; the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act 0f 1936, after the “Dust Bowl” and created the Soil Conservation Service now NRCS that led to State Conservation Districts; the Rural Electric Act of 1946; Food Stamp Act of 1946, and Child Nutrition Act of 1966. Taken as a whole, farm bills and other legislation considered by the agriculture committees of Congress affect, in one way or another, all Vermonters — and citizens of the world.
Sen. Leahy has been a champion and steward of many important programs promoting nutrition, conservation, rural credit, rural development, dairy, organic agriculture and other programs of vital interest to us all. He is retiring as its most senior committee member, having served since 1974 and chairman from 1987 to 1995. His policy leadership has been valued in Vermont and the nation and will be missed.
Vermont is still a rural state. Our economy continues to depend on agriculture and the working landscape in both tourism, farm livelihoods and with the rural economy. Without representation on these committees, we will have no direct voice in these key policy deliberations that impact so much of who we are as a state.
