AFBF Farm Bill Priorities
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. The next Congress could be rough for the 2023 farm bill as the American Farm Bureau takes a proactive strategy in laying out its priorities.AFB President Zippy Duvall sees a ‘heavy lift’ for the next farm bill …
DUVALL … “2023 may present a bigger challenge than ever, than we’ve ever seen. We have fewer members of Congress that represent rural districts, along with a huge class of new members coming to Congress…(2117) So, it’d be our job to inform them on how it could help their constituents, whether they’re in rural parts of the country or the urban parts of the country.”
High on the list, according to AFB’s Andrew Walmsley, is commodity and conservation programs, and crop insurance …
WALMSLEY … “We think there’s concerns on adding too many additional requirements to Crop Insurance that could undermine the program.”
AFBF wants a lower cap on CRP acreage, while setting rental rates to a percentage of average county rates …
WALMSLEY … “The ’18 farm bill made some adjustments on the county rental rates, we supported that, USDA kind of worked around that in a fairly creative way, this last go-round. But, at the end of the day, when it comes to CRP, it definitely needs to stay targeted on those lands that are considered marginal.”
Walmsley says the latest NRCS numbers show about a quarter of CRP acreage is considered prime farm ground.