Voting delegates at the annual American Farm Bureau Federation convention, Jan. 11, voiced strong support for continuing the concepts of the current farm program, including direct payments and crop insurance.
Heading into the convention, there was speculation farmers would be split on the direction of the next farm bill concerning continuation of direct payments versus expanding revenue crop insurance programs.
“We were very pleased the delegates agreed with our desire to continue direct farm program payments in the next farm bill,” said OFB President Mike Spradling. “The current farm bill has successfully provided a good safety net for our producers while assuring an abundant, safe food supply for the nation. It’s important we continue in that direction while adding a simplified Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program, along with crop insurance and other programs, that will give producers the flexibility to adapt to the market and government budget.”
The AFBF delegates said, “The new farm bill should maintain a strong safety net that consists of direct payments, a simplified ACRE program and the countercyclical, marketing loan and crop insurance programs.”
In other delegate action, a resolution was passed calling for more congressional oversight of the EPA’s regulatory actions.
“We’ve had it with EPA’s burdensome, unnecessary regulations,” Spradling said.
AFBF filed a federal lawsuit Jan. 10 to halt the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay pollution regulatory plan.
Another Oklahoma resolution supported by AFBF treats funding for agriculture research the same way as medical research. The Oklahoma policy reads, “We support the creation of a new type of charitable organization devoted to agriculture research with an IRS tax structure similar to the medical research organizations.”
“This will bring additional research dollars to the Noble Foundation and Oklahoma State University, benefitting not just Oklahoma, but all consumers,” Spradling said. “We’re fortunate to have the combination of the Noble Foundation and OSU here and look forward to working together to feed the growing world population.”
The delegates reaffirmed support for a guest worker program that meets agriculture’s needs for farm labor, fair and open world trade, and continued inclusion of the word “navigable” in the Clean Water Act’s definition of the water bodies subjected to federal control.
Spradling was re-elected to another term on the AFBF Board of Directors representing the southern region.
