Replenishing funds for the Commodity Credit Corporation is typically an easy decision among lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle in Washington DC, however, that’s not the case in 2020.
Several lawmakers had expressed hesitation, but the two sides reached an agreement Tuesday night to include funding for the CCC, which supports a large number of programs in the farm bill. The House passed the Continuing Resolution budget to fund the national government on a 359-57 vote.
Chair of the Senate Ag Committee Pat Roberts spoke during a recent virtual event hosted by Agri-Pulse. He says ad-hoc disaster assistance isn’t the way to help US agriculture going forward, because it’s not sustainable. He says strengthening the safety net programs in the farm bill is the way to do it right.
“We sold the farm program on certainty and predictability. How many times have we passed a farm bill to provide farmers, ranchers, and growers in the entire agriculture industry and everybody related to it with certainty and predictability? If there’s ever a time after five or six years of this, with regard to prices below the cost of production and what Mother Nature has done to us, talking about the beleaguered farmer here now, for five or six years, we pass a farm bill and then, all of a sudden, it’s maybe this or maybe that. Consistency and predictability; we have to do a better job.”
Roberts says the future of the farm bill will require the diverse segments of US agriculture to put aside difference and come together.
“In each and every one of them, we’ve heard people cast doubt on our ability to pass a farm bill, especially this last one. And yet, we achieved more votes than we ever have before. The reason for that is the people in the whole farm network of broadcasters, and then all the farm organizations, all the commodity groups, we knew we had to hang together or hang separately. Additionally, we had a thousand different organizations behind it; it will happen again because people understand the value and importance of passing a farm bill on behalf of the beleaguered farmer, rancher, and grower.”
Roberts says one way to improve the nation’s struggling agriculture sector is changing current trade.
“I hope that we can have a breakthrough on that policy. China is still buying our product and we saw an increase in the soybean price. I hope that can be a much broader increase with farm income. By the way, there’s no federal program you can think of that will be a better benefit than farm income.”
Senate Ag Committee Chair Pat Roberts, speaking during an Agri-Pulse event, will not seek re-election this year.
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