The farm bill draft released July 5 by U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) is drawing favorable support from Oklahoma Farm Bureau leaders.
“This draft offers a strong safety net for farm income using a combination of crop insurance and price protection,” said OFB Farm Bill Committee Chairman Scott Neufeld, Fairview.
“We strongly support Cong. Lucas in his efforts as Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee to pass a farm bill that would be equitable for all regions of the country.”
Neufeld said crop insurance needs to continue to be viable, affordable and flexible to cover a wide variety of crops and growing regions and this draft does that and more.
“We caution against a wholesale rewrite of the crop insurance program at a time when it has proven its worth and accomplished its purpose of managing risk,” Neufeld said.
The northwest Oklahoma farmer said producers can bear shallow loss risks that are incurred in their operation on an annual basis. A shallow loss would be a crop loss of 15 to 20 percent or less.
“Producers should have the fiscal responsibility to manage small moves in prices and production expenses,” Neufeld said. “We support a strong safety net that offers protection from steep price declines over the life of the farm bill.”
The Farm Bureau leader said the agriculture economy is a bright spot among the nation’s fragile economy and this farm bill is needed to continue the momentum.
“We encourage farm groups to work together to support Cong. Lucas to get the new farm bill passed quickly,” Neufeld said. “We must work together to expedite this process to ensure certainty for the future of the agricultural industry.”
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