Clock Ticking on Farm Bill 2.0

Members of the House Agriculture Committee say the clock is ticking on a skinny farm bill.       

Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski says the reconciliation package secured an update to the commodities title, but it also created some issues.

“The Republicans broke apart the Farm Bill Coalition with the One Big Bill.”  She says, “So how do we, after that, come back to the table so we can make sure that safety net is there for our farmers, like supporting agricultural research. There’s a lot of work that we have to do.”

Congressman Eric Sorensen suggests that time is running out. “I really do worry that we’re not going to have those in Congress that want to get that done,” he says.

President of the National Corn Growers Association, Kenneth Hartman, Jr., says farmers need the certainty of a new farm bill.

“We have to get it done because there are some provisions that have to be done by the end of the year.”  He says, “There are some things in there with research, conservation, and some of these areas.”

The current farm bill extension expires at the end of September.

EDITOR’S TAKE:

Revising and updating the farm bill has been postponed for over a year. Now it appears congress may kick the can down the road again by likely passing another “extension” of the current legislation. Obviously, that is not the answer farmers/ranchers are looking for. What should be a simple task is turning into a fiasco for those seeking more certainty about their future. We won’t give up hope yet, but as stated in the article – the clock is definitely ticking!

You can help create a bit of certainty when you sell a truck that will be used on the farm. First, use CADFI to help shape those payments to the farm/ranch income stream. Second, CAD Protect can provide that certainty and peace of mind that comes with having a warranty that covers use on the farm/ranch. Many OEM warranties do not cover ag use.