2018 Farm Bill Spurring Conversations Already

With weeks to before the election and lame-duck sessions, the 2018 Farm Bill is already spurring conversations.

Heritage Foundation Looking to the 2018 Farm Bill

The Heritage Foundation is already laying out its case for ending commodity programs and crop insurance policies in the 2018 farm bill. Pro Ag obtained a report that lays out the agenda for the lobbying arm of the organization to implement when farm bill negotiations get going. The report says most farmers are able to manage risk without taxpayer help. They say the $15 billion annually spent on programs actually promotes riskier farming practices, such as limited crop diversification and farming land prone to flooding and erosion. The report says some farmers would lose their land, but they feel the government should not be guaranteeing that all farming operations survive and even flourish. The Foundation wants several programs enacted in the 2014 farm bill to be eliminated, including support programs like Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage. The group also wants to eliminate the dairy insurance program and current U.S. sugar policies to be discontinued as well. They want federal crop insurance to only cover deep yield losses and disasters, and not cover revenue loss.

Ag Reacts to the Heritage Foundation Report

Early reactions to the Heritage Foundation Report that calls for an end to commodity support programs and crop insurance have been swift. Dale Moore of the American Farm Bureau Federation says the Heritage Foundation hasn’t considered the current farm economy in their report that would leave farmers without a viable safety net. He said the challenges to cotton and dairy producers have been particularly difficult. “Congress and agriculture groups have worked toward a more market-oriented system in recent years,” Moore said. Tom Sell of the lobbying firm Combest, Sell and Associates said congress has rejected this line of thinking in the past. They recognize that farmers take on extraordinary risks to produce food for a market that’s been very distorted and volatile in recent years. “They know the Heritage Foundation is trying to demean policies that total one-quarter of one percent of the overall federal budget,” Sell said.

Source:  NAFB News