Recent hearings on the 2012 farm bill have highlighted a need to simplify farm payment programs, specifically the Acreage Crop Revenue Election program, or ACRE. Even U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack acknowledges that the next farm bill might include fine tuning of ACRE.
“When only eight percent of farms and 13 percent of total base acres are included in a program, it tells you that there is still additional work that needs to be done,” said Secretary Vilsack, in comments provided by the USDA.
Secretary Vilsack says work should be done to make the program more familiar to producers. Fine tuning might include the issue of enrolling for the life of the farm bill and ACRE’s favoring of certain commodities over others, says Vilsack.
“But I think if you take a look at giving people a little more flexibility within the program and you also take a look at the data that you’re going to use in making the calculations that might make it more popular and more interesting for people,” said Vilsack. “And I think as people see the impacts of it on their neighbors who elected [to participate in] ACRE, hopefully we’ll see improvement.”
The Senate Agriculture Committee hearings on the 2012 measure began last week, while the House Agriculture Committee has a few field hearings under its belt.
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