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Trump Ag Committee expected to continue through Farm Bill discussions

A member of President Trump’s ag advisory committee expects the group to continue advising the President on ag policy. Ohio farmer Fred Yoder, a past President of the National Corn Growers Association, says the committee has been asked to counsel the Trump Administration during farm bill discussions.

“It’s a pretty diverse group on the advisory council so I would say if it’s [a program] a good idea and it gets the stamp of approval from the ag committee it has a great chance of being implemented,” says Yoder.

Yoder says he originally thought the committee would only advise President Trump until he named a new Secretary of Ag.

“Mr. Trump has indicated that he want’s us to stick around and be like a think tank for Farm Bill. In the past, everyone has had their own perspective and they’ve lobbied members of Congress, as well as USDA, but they’ll run it by us again,” says Yoder.

Yoder says the President wants to take a results-oriented approach to programs in the 2018 Farm Bill.

“There are some things that are not working well with the [current] Farm Bill. Certain commodities have a disadvantage while others maybe have a bit more of an advantage. I’m really interested in risk management and making sure the farmers have a safety net they can go and operate on” says Yoder.

Brownfield spoke with Yoder at the Ohio Farmers Union’s annual meeting in Columbus.

Audio: Fred Yoder, Ohio farmer, Trump Ag Advisory Committee