by Lynne Finnerty
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One farm program cannot fit all farmers.
What works well for southern cotton growers or farmers in New England is probably not the best way to help Midwestern soybean farmers or western wheat growers get through a difficult year so they can keep putting food on market shelves. Even from one year to the next, different programs can make up stronger or weaker threads in the fabric of the food and farm safety net, depending on volatile markets and weather.
That’s why the American Farm Bureau recently sent Congress farm bill recommendations that call for a “big picture” approach—one that maintains most current farm programs rather than depending on just one or two—to provide a safety net for different types of farmers in all regions.
The ax has to fall somewhere, however. A congressional “super-committee” is meeting this fall to come up with at least $1.2 trillion in budget cuts. Every part of the federal budget is likely to be trimmed. The cuts to the farm bill, including farm, conservation and nutrition programs, could be anywhere in the range of $10 billion to $40 billion.
Farm Bureau represents all types of farmers and ranchers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Unlike some groups calling for absolutely no reductions in favored programs, Farm Bureau is taking a more practical stance. It recommends an equal proportion, 30%, of the needed funding cuts be made in commodity, conservation and nutrition programs, with another 10% made in the increasingly important crop insurance program.
Some say farmers don’t need a safety net, because this year’s market prices are high for most commodities, but so are production costs. Also, cotton and wheat yields are low, in some places nonexistent, because of drought in the Southern Plains. If a farmer doesn’t have a crop or livestock to sell, good prices don’t benefit him much. Through the current dual structure of risk management and income support programs, a good farmer can make it through to another year, ensuring all of us have a quality, stable and economical food supply.
The farm safety net evolved over the last seven decades, and it will continue to change, as it should—to make farm programs work their best in today’s budget environment. However, Congress should maintain the complete suit of current farm programs.
(Editor’s note: Lynne Finnerty is the editor of FBNews, the newspaper of the American Farm Bureau Federation.)