This week, farm policy took center stage during my trip to our nation’s capital.  At a luncheon hosted by Bloomberg Government, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway discussed the future of the farm bill as well as other critical challenges facing the ag sector.  Not surprisingly, these included: agricultural economy and commodity markets, new realities and pressures related to farm incomes, growing regulatory burdens and emerging agriculture technologies.

House Ag Chairman Conaway is currently leading a series of congressional hearings on these emerging pressures on rural America and he is pro-actively working to ensure that these issues remain in front of fellow colleagues on Capitol Hill as well as the general public.  Conaway has also been using other opportunities and forums to promote key agricultural issues and is serving as an advocate for the American farmer as seen in a recent Bloomberg opinion piece.

At the luncheon Chairman Conaway also took time to publicly praise the hard work and leadership of Indiana Congresswoman Jackie Walorski.  As the Nutrition Sub-Committee Chair, Rep. Walorski has helped lead several of the hearings within the House Ag Committee and focused on important issues such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) reform and the connections between farm policy and food prices.  Additionally, the issue of poverty and relation to agriculture and food prices has been well documented and discussed among congressional leaders as of late and was another point of emphasis by Chairman Conaway.  He highlighted a new report called “A Better Way”, which was spearheaded by House Speaker Paul Ryan, Chairman Conaway and other Republican leaders.

In addition to recent hearings and activities, chairmen Roberts and Conaway also discussed a number of specific policy issues including the future of the farm bill.  Both agreed that before any potential changes are made to the next farm bill, congressional leaders should agree to establish rigorous policy standards to determine impacts on food prices and availability.  As Chairman Conaway explained, any policy found to potentially increase food cost needs to have clear goals and justifiable, widespread benefits.

Another area of agreement and emphasis by chairmen Roberts and Conaway was crop insurance and the important role that it should continue to play in the next farm bill.  Despite repeated attempts to reduce crop insurance support by a handful of lawmakers as well as President Obama in recent times, the agriculture community has been successful at thwarting these counterproductive efforts.  However, these battles are not finished and it should be expected that they will continue and only increase as we get closer to the development of the next farm bill.  They also noted that the next farm bill needs to continue an overall safety net that is robust and includes support for both crop insurance as well as commodity programs because agriculture is very diverse across our country and different farmers have different needs.

In closing, the chairmen noted that the next farm bill will likely be written during a very difficult farm economy scenario while at the same time undergoing increasing baseline and budgetary scrutiny, creating a lot of pressures.  In addition to risk management tools and safety net discussions about crop insurance and commodity programs, the growing issue of credit availability for farmers is another important consideration in the overall picture.  While discussions are increasing about what the next farm bill should be, the verdict is still very much out about how the current farm bill is serving farmers and rural communities.  Any attempts to change the farm bill should first and foremost be market oriented and consider food affordability and availability.

Moving forward, the ag committees will continue congressional hearings and activities to highlight key agricultural issues that impact farm policy.  They also plan to host listening sessions with key interests groups and farmers across the U.S. beginning at the end of the year.  Indiana Farm Bureau will follow these developments closely and communicate about opportunities as they become available.

(View from my hotel on New Jersey St.)