Farm Bill Stalemate
From the Ag Information Network, this is today’s Fruit Grower Report. After months of fruitless efforts, farm bill talks appear to have reached a stalemate.
Neither side is budging in the Senate, and no floor action is scheduled in the spending bill-consumed House despite a committee-passed farm bill ready for action.
House Ag Chair GT Thompson warned of political obstacles over repurposing SNAP and CCC savings, not to mention overshooting budget estimates …
THOMPSON … “It is virtually impossible to create a robust and resilient farm safety net without significant investment.”
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack also pointed to the difficulty of boosting the farm safety net with limited resources and no new farm bill …
VILSACK … “Failure to have a farm bill creates uncertainty, and that uncertainty makes it very difficult for producers to make decisions about their operations, to decide whether or not they’re going to diversify their crop, or to decide whether or not they’re going to take advantage of new crop insurance. By the way, we’ve had 12 new policies and 50 new modifications to crop insurance just in the last three years.”
But American Farm Bureau’s Joe Gilson says talk of another “extension” is nothing new …
GILSON … “There are still some stark differences between what Senator Boozman has put out and what Chair Stabenow has released. So, right now, we just need to see a lot of leadership in the Senate.”
More Senators on both sides now say they’d rather wait until after the election to pass a farm bill.
