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Tough farm economy on minds of NFU members

National Farmers Union (NFU) members from across the country are discussing the continued economic challenges agriculture is facing at their annual convention in San Diego this week.

Minnesota Farmers Union president Gary Wertish says another year of low profitability has many crop and livestock producers scrambling to stay in business.

“Roger Johnson, our national president, in his state-of-the-state (speech), gave the example that three years ago the prices of our crops and livestock both were about double what they are right now.”

With policy discussions on tap, he tells Brownfield NFU will be looking to the next Farm Bill and potential changes to the crop and dairy safety nets.

“The present Farm Bill that we have relies heavily on insurance, and when we had high prices that worked very well.  But now (with) a couple years of low prices, the safety net’s just not there.  That’ll be the biggest struggle as we go forward trying to write a new Farm Bill that actually offers a level of support when prices are low.”

Wertish says there are also concerns interest rate hikes could add financial stress.

The National Farmers Union 115^th convention runs through Wednesday.