Corn, soy, rice and wheat growers will get no help from a multibillion-dollar budget reserve fund under a five-year farm bill now taking shape, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn., said Thursday.

“I’ve told them they’re going to have to live with what they have,” he told reporters Thursday morning.

The $20 billion budgetary reserve fund, which lawmakers can tap so long as they find offsets, became a point of contention during a markup of the conservation, credit, energy and research components of the farm bill (HR 2419) this week. Numerous amendments to establish new programs or boost funding for current ones were dropped after subcommittee Chairman Tim Holden, D-Pa., told members there was no extra money available.

Peterson, who met with the House Democratic leadership yesterday to discuss finding offsets, said he may have been too strict. He promised to be more accommodating in subsequent markups and to add some funds to conservation programs, among others.

Meanwhile, Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said he’s going to consolidate all working-lands conservation programs under a Comprehensive Stewardship Incentives Program — a “one-stop shop” for farmers.

Under Harkin’s farm bill, conservation programs would be authorized at $6 billion over five years. That’s a $3 billion boost overall, with $2 billion going to the CSP — which was cut by $1.1 billion in the House bill.