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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow is circulating some ideas for farm program reforms that include an increase in effective reference prices that would benefit all commodities, plus an unspecified improvement in marketing loans.
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.
Democrats on the House and Senate Agriculture committees see the farm safety net as broader thanthan the major commodity programs and want to make sure that the next farm bill addresses needs of smaller-scale producers, committee aides say.
The House Rules Committee has scheduled a meeting for Wednesday to decide which proposed amendments to the fiscal 2024 Agriculture spending will get debated on the House floor.
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.
