National Farmers Union Offers Farm Bill Testimony

Mike Stranz, National Farmers Union vice president of advocacy says the organization recently testified before the Senate Ag Subcommittee on crop insurance subsidies and the overall safety net. They had three main points. The first one is that the next farm bill will have a safety net that works as it should, and making sure commodity programs and crop insurance are updated and viable. Number two, having diversified income streams for farmers' programs that help with climate change mitigation and conversation which can add to an operation’s revenue. And the third point- the lack of competition in the marketplace needs to be addressed. He says that the if the ag industry is dominated by corporate monopoly, then all the programs mentioned here are for nothing and a larger issue needs to be addressed. Stranz says it was good interaction with the Senate Subcommittee Ag Committee lawmakers.

”For instance, Senator John Hoeven from North Dakota have questions about what sort of changes our groups would like to see title one commodity programs in the Farm Bill farmers unions mean well, one of the points that farmers union is putting forward is that for the last couple of farm bills, farmers have had a choice between agriculture risk coverage on revenue and Price Loss Coverage that's kind of based on farmers having to make a choice and sometimes the choice is made incorrectly market conditions may change and prices shift so we want to see a dual enrollment option.”

One other note, strands points out that with the timing of the debt ceiling this year, it is making Farm Bill discussions even more difficult.