Agricultural News
One Size Fits All Farm Policy Not Workable when 2012 Farm Bill Debate Restarts
Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:00:19 CST
One ag policy analyst says American agriculture is too diverse for a one-size-fits-all safety net to work. Joe Outlaw of Texas A&M commends the top four leaders of the House and Senate Ag Committees for developing a farm bill outline that would have given producers a choice between shallow-loss revenue protection and higher target prices saying he doesn't believe either of these are wrong.
Outlaw says what he has the biggest problem with is for certain commodities to say a specific commodity is interested in target price or a price protection program that they can't have that.
While the super committee effort imploded, Outlaw predicts the draft safety net will ultimately be enacted into law. Outlaw adds that the process in 2012 is going to be very ugly because not every group is ready to have just one program. Click here for our previous story with Chairman Frank Lucas on the efforts by the Super Committee with a Farm Bill that included the $23 billion in savings.
Outlaw also says that he does not expect this process to end this coming year. He expects it to be pushed back into 2013, which for those that don't want to give up direct payments so quickly, is their best hope.
Click here to visit the Ag Policy Institute website that Outlaw heads up for more information.
Click on the LISTEN bar below for more comments from Joe Outlaw, co-director of Texas A&M's ag and food policy center, which has analyzed over two dozen safety net options for the next farm bill.
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