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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Lawmakers are looking at boosting subsidies for supplemental, area-based crop insurance policies to induce growers to buy higher levels of coverage, which could potentially reduce the demand from farm groups for ad hoc disaster assistance.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow expects to have $4 billion to $5 billion in new funding available to address issues with commodity programs and expand crop insurance options, she said in an exclusive interview with Agri-Pulse.
Congress is almost certain to move an extension of the 2018 farm bill in the next month or two, and it could shake up cost estimates for modifications to commodity programs and other provisions.
The House and Senate Agriculture Committees are still several months away from voting on a new farm bill, but the major issues in each of the 12 titles are coming into focus even as lawmakers continue offering new proposals they’d like to see included. Here is a summary of the issues in play as well as notable proposals lawmakers would like to see included in the bill.
The House Agriculture Committee is considering raising reference prices based on a commodity’s relative input costs, an approach that could benefit some southern crops over commodities such as soybeans and corn.
Farmers like Caleb Ragland are missing out on a big part of the farm bill’s safety net, and lawmakers are struggling to figure out what to do about it.
Groups representing producers of U.S. row crops are far from united on what Congress should do to improve commodity programs, even as the House and Senate Agriculture committees look to start writing a new farm bill in coming weeks.
Senate Republican Whip John Thune sees expanding work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as a way to cut the cost of the nutrition title in a new farm bill.
Lawmakers likely won’t start writing a new farm bill for several months, but budget estimates due to be released this week will shape the debate over the legislation.
