04/26/07 Northwest grain farmer testifies for American Farmland Trust

Farm and Ranch April 26, 2007 Fourth generation Idaho grain farmer and a former president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, Bill Flory, testified about the 2007 Farm Bill at a U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee hearing Wednesday. Flory spoke on behalf of the American Farmland Trust, AFT, and said Congress has an opportunity to fix a broken safety net. What Flory and the AFT are promoting for the Farm Bill is the Integrated Farm Revenue Program. Flory: "It is handled on the farmer's side by existing crop insurance and crop insurance programs. The government component of it pays based on revenue which is a function of price and yield. It also integrates crop insurance. It pays when national revenue targets are not made. And again revenue is price and yield. And it replaces LDPs and counter cyclical payments but does not affect direct payments and conservation payments." Flory says an AFT-commissioned study shows that integrating crop insurance with the Title I safety net would result in a cost savings of more than one billion dollars each year. He says that savings could be redirected for the protections gained within the revenue-based safety net AFT is proposing. So from Flory's point of view. Flory: "It gives us the ability to produce for the markets not for arbitrarily set target prices. It has environmental benefits. It is better for farmers and better for taxpayers." I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.