Agriculture leaders and farmers throughout the state were praising the passage Wednesday of the 2002 national farm bill by the Senate, a bill that includes benefits for Maine’s agriculture industry on a level never seen before.

Although the bill has been criticized as bloated and wasteful for including spending provisions that benefit large agricorporations, those in Maine’s agriculture industry are calling it “the best farm package we’ve ever seen.” The dairy, apple, potato, blueberry and cranberry industries will all receive millions of dollars in assistance for crop loss and marketing while conservation and research will be greatly enhanced.

The bill reflects a 70 percent increase over the 1996 Freedom to Farm Bill’s provisions and provides funding that will rise from $100 billion to $173 billion over the next 10 years.

U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe voted in favor of the legislation Wednesday evening, calling it crucial for Maine’s farmers. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act conference report passed the Senate by a vote of 64-35, and now proceeds to President Bush, who has indicated he will sign the bill.

“We face a choice on this farm legislation: either pass a farm bill this year to shape agriculture policy, or vote this bill down and lose the chance to shape farm policy for Maine,” said Snowe. “We’d be left with the status quo and Maine loses with the status quo. I’m not willing to take the risk of losing Maine’s dairy industry, and other farmers, by voting down this bill.”

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins voted against the bill. Collins was critical of the bill’s favoritism toward agribusiness and said that less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the bill’s appropriations would actually find its way to Maine.

“This legislation perpetuates a dependency that leads to overproduction that is harmful to our land and ultimately to our farm economy,” Collins said during debate on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday. “I am disappointed to see the reforms begun in the last farm bill sacrificed in a frenzy of overspending. This bill is both too expensive and unbalanced. It provides far too much in federal subsidies for some of the nation’s largest agribusinesses and not enough for the small family farmers in my state and across the nation.”

After the vote was final, Snowe called the bill “the fairest deal for Maine that I’ve seen in my 24 years in Congress.” But Snowe expressed concern about the overall cost of the legislation.

“It spends too much, too fast, with too much focus on major agribusinesses in the South and Midwest,” said Snowe. “But that has been a common element in every farm bill considered during my tenure. In this bill, we make progress for the first time in achieving balance, treating Maine’s interests fairly. I hope this will mark a turning point in how we prepare farm bills, with a greater focus on providing a regional balance, and pre-empting the annual parade of nondisaster, agriculture supplemental bills that have cost us $23 billion in unplanned agriculture commodity payments in the past four years alone.”

State agriculture leaders praised the provisions in the bill that benefit Maine’s dairy farmers.

“While we would always like to see a better share of support in national dollars for Maine farmers, without this bill the dairy industry in Maine would really be floundering,” stated Jon Olson, Maine Farm Bureau executive secretary.

“It is unfortunate that we lost the Northeast Dairy Compact last fall, but because of that, measures were put into the farm bill to assist Maine dairy farmers, should the prices continue to drop. Approximately $6 million per year to Maine dairy farmers through monthly compactlike payments was the provision made in this farm bill,” Olson said.

“The opportunities in the bill exceed the opportunities we have had [in Maine] in the past by severalfold,” said Russ Collette of the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Conservation funds in the bill are expected to be triple what Maine has received in previous years.

“This is so important for Maine,” said Collette. “Through the 1996 Farm Bill we were only able to address 20 percent of requests for assistance that we received.” Those requests this year have been for help with irrigation, water quality preservation and nutrient management issues.

One of the state’s leading apple producers, Judy Dimmock of Madison, said the bill should be called the food bill rather than the farm bill. “It is a bill that benefits any American that puts food on the table,” she said.

“What people have to remember and where they need to make the connection is that this is a bill that will ultimately benefit consumers. It assures the availability of locally grown food at a reasonable price,” said Dimmock.

Dimmock echoed what other agriculture leaders were saying, that the farm bill “is not the perfect bill, but there is a lot of good in it for Maine farmers and, ultimately, Maine consumers.”

The 20 major provisions for Maine included in the bill are:

. Dairy – approximately $6 million per year to Maine dairy farmers through monthly compact-like payments, retroactive to Dec. 1, 2001.

. Conservation programs – a minimum of $12 million for Maine in 2003, an increase from $4 million in 2002, rising to at least $23 million by FY 2005 with new flexibility for water conservation funding to save water resources through irrigation ponds, for instance, for growers.

. Marketing – doubles funding for 15 underserved states, including Maine. It provides $1.5 million for Maine out of a $20 million annual program in 2003 through 2007 for marketing assistance, organic farming, pesticide reduction projects, and conservation assistance to help farmers sustain their land.

. Farmland protection – $985 million for the national Farmland Protection Program, a 20-fold increase, to conserve farmland and open space from sprawl. Maine leverages federal money with funds from the Land for Maine’s Future program to preserve open space and keep families on working farms. Under the current annual funding of approximately $10.7 million, Maine received $909,545 this past year.

. Apples – $1.5 million in direct payments to Maine apple producers for apple market loss assistance.

. Specialty crops – $200 million for purchases nationwide of fruits and vegetables for the School Lunch Program. Specifically mentioned on the list of eligible products are potatoes, blueberries and cranberries.

. Federal Nutrition Programs – payments of an additional $20 million over 10 years for Maine, and the food stamp program is streamlined. This also mandates $1 million for Maine’s Senior FarmShare program.

. Market Access Program – raises national MAP to $200 million, up from $90 million, by 2006. This program is used by the Maine potato and blueberry growers to market their value-added products abroad.

. Trade – $20 million nationally to help fruit and vegetable and other specialty crop growers combat trade barriers.

. Rural Development Community Water Assistance Grant Program – $3 million for Maine through 2011 to address drought conditions and water quality in rural areas and small communities.

. Rural Water and Waste Facility Grants – $90 million to Maine over 10 years of additional resources to assist small rural communities with their drinking water and wastewater needs.

. Reauthorization of Rural Development Programs through 2011 – at least $1.5 million over 10 years for Maine for regional planning activities and technical assistance to small businesses.

. Grants for Well Water Systems in Rural Areas – national program will provide grants to low- or moderate-income households to help families with severe drinking water problems.

. Lewiston – Lewiston will now be eligible to take advantage of the benefits of Community Facility Direct and Guaranteed Loan Programs. It was one of two national communities named in the bill.

. Rural Firefighters and Emergency Personnel Grant Program – Maine will get resources to train rural firefighters and emergency personnel. This would assist small communities in Maine with homeland security issues.

. Energy Efficiency and Conservation – $23 million a year from 2003 to 2007 for a nationwide loan, loan-guarantee and grant program to help farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses purchase renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements.

. Renewable Energy – $450 million for national research on bio-based fuels, a federal biofuels purchasing program and efficiency measures.

. Forestry – $100 million in obligated funds for a national Forest Lands Enhancement Program to give financial and technical assistance to small private non-industrial forest landowners for a variety of good management practices.

. Research – expands the Initiative for Future Agriculture and Foods Systems, a new source of research and development funding. The University of Maine has competed successfully for these grants in the past and now has a $2 million IFAFS grant for looking at small integrated farm systems.

. Farm Service Agency Direct Operating Loan Funds – $1 million more for Maine farmers has been added to this fiscal year.