By Gary Joiner
TFB Radio Network Manager
U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway announced plans to launch a series of meetings around the country to allow farmers to discuss with elected officials the issues facing agriculture and how the next farm bill can help.
“The cotton part of the 2014 Farm Bill hasn’t worked and will require an overhaul when the committee begins writing a new farm bill for 2018,” Conaway, of Midland, said. “Cotton will have to be dramatically different because it just didn’t work. The STAX [Stacked Income Protection Plan] program, without a reference price, placed cotton in a world of hurt.”
Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) are ready to provide input. The 2014 Farm Bill expires in September 2018.
The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee also plans to host farm bill field hearings across the country. Its first hearing is Feb. 23 in Manhattan, Kansas, to be followed by another field hearing in Michigan (date to be announced).
AFBF Senior Director of Congressional Relations Mary Kay Thatcher said work continues in preparation for the House and Senate farm bill field hearings.
“We have three or four issues that we feel like we really need to do a deeper dive into: the ARC county program, the dairy program, generic acres and the Conservation Reserve Program. So we’ll be trying to do a deeper dive into those and come up with some recommendations for our board and trying to help farmers and our leaders get ready to testify before the House and Senate Ag committees about the upcoming farm bill,” Thatcher said.
It’s expected that much energy will be directed toward the nutrition title of the bill in 2018, with a major push likely for entitlement reform of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other aspects of the nutrition programs in this country.
Committee members warn there will likely be efforts by critics to reduce support for items like crop insurance, rural development, conservation and agricultural research as a 2018 Farm Bill is considered.
Conaway encouraged committee members at a recent meeting to be ready to defend farm programs and to talk to colleagues about spending cuts that have already been made in recent years, according to Agri-Pulse. Conaway said he also is urging farm groups to provide their proposals for the next farm bill as soon as possible.
“Good ideas that show up at the last minute may not sound as good as if they show up early,” he said.
Conaway said he’s committed to getting a new farm bill enacted before the 2014 law expires next fall, but he says he hasn’t set a timeline for marking up the new legislation. He also isn’t sure yet how much money the committee will have to work with, according to reports.