Time to Get the Farm Bill Done

Time to Get the Farm Bill Done plus Food Forethought. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

Longtime Ag Senator Chuck Grassley has new concerns over whether a farm bill will get done in a lame duck Congress. Grassley points to a laundry list of things Congress needs to do when it returns this week. But the problem is time.

GRASSLEY: We don’t know the schedule for next week and then the next week is Thanksgiving week and I assume we won’t be in session very many days that week, if at all that week and then you get to the last week of November. That leaves about one month to take care of a lot of legislative business.

Oklahoma Congressman Frank Lucas - and House Ag Chairman - won his seat again Tuesday. As for the farm bill - there has been a lot of talk as to whether it will be brough up during the lame duck session. Lucas says re-elected President Barack Obama has an incentive to address farm bill policy, military sequestration and tax issues.

LUCAS: Far as I can determine the $35-billion dollars that we try to save in the House Ag Committee version of the Farm Bill is one of the few bills that have real savings that are really accountable and I think we might be needed in some of these other calculations so for whatever the reason, if there’s a window of opportunity I want to get the Farm Bill done.

Now with today’s Food Forethought, here’s Lacy Gray.

My grandfather and my husband’s grandfather were both farmers and ranchers during their younger years. They are both long gone now, but the life experiences they shared with their grandchildren continue to be passed along to each new generation. One thing we can’t do though is ask them what they think of the current demand for farmland and the record high prices being received for farmland. The most recent sale of farmland in the midwest for just under 22 thousand dollars an acre would probably have both of them picking their jaws up off the floor. Farmland continues to be in great demand, and it is no surprise that more land has been coming onto the market in recent weeks. Part of that is due to estate auctions, and part is due soaring commodity prices and limited supply. Even with the severe drought this year economists say the farm economy is much healthier than it was in 1988. There are still those farmers and ranchers who are under severe stress right now, and as Grandpa G and Grandpa A would both surely tell us, interest rates, commodity prices and the weather can all change with very little warning.

Thanks Lacy. Back after this. That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.