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Farm Bill Conference Committee begins work

The Farm Bill Conference Committee members say getting the final farm bill done on time is their top priority, including Senate Ag Committee Chairman Pat Roberts.  “Getting a farm bill done is paramount to any other issue and concern.  Both the House and Senate recognize this need.  Clearly, both have taken the steps to get us to this point today.”

Roberts says farmers need certainty, and this farm bill needs to be completed on time.  Congressman Collin Peterson of Minnesota agrees completing this farm bill on time is job one.  “Nobody in this room is going to get everything that they want and this process is about compromise, so with that, I yield the balance of my time and suggest we get to work.”   Congressman Michael Conaway says creating certainty for farmers is vital. “I submit that it is the primary job of this conference committee to provide, as Chairman Roberts would say, the predictability and stability of a farm safety net.  Thus far in the process, we have honored calls from across the country to do no harm to crop insurance.”

Senator Heidi Heitkamp says the elephant in the room is the growing and emerging crisis in farm country.  “Like a lot of you, I have sat across the table from farm families who don’t know how they’re going to pay the operating loan, who don’t know how they’re going to make ends meet, and now they’re concerned not just for themselves but they’re concerned about the next generation.”

She says farmers encouraged their children to come back to the farm during the good years, and now they’re worried they might not be farming next year.

Committee members showed strong support for crop insurance and safety net programs during opening remarks.

Senator Debbie Stabenow says the new farm bill also needs to prioritize tools for trade promotion and local food systems, getting young people and veterans into farming, and new dairy risk management tools.