Agricultural News
Scott Neufeld of Oklahoma Farm Bureau Farm Policy Task Force Offers Praise for Lucas-Peterson Farm Bill
Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:36:56 CDT
As the 2012 Farm Bill continues to clear hurdles on its way to the House floor, Scott Neufeld, chairman of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Farm Bill Task Force has kept track and been involved in the process.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas and Ranking Member Collin Peterson have released their draft proposal of the bill. It is expected to be considered by the full committee on Wednesday.
In a recent interview with Ron Hays, Neufeld said members of the Farm Bureau committee have found a lot to be supportive of in the bill.
"Our committee, Ron, is extremely pleased with the draft that we have seen from Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson's proposal. It looks like it offers much-needed price protection. There's some price supports in the farm programs. And it offers a true safety net more so than a revenue guarantee and lets the crop insurance programs take care of the revenue portion of that."
Neufeld said the draft bill contains much flexibility and avoided the "one-size-fits-all" approach many ag group leaders had been wary of.
"We're extremely pleased with the options. I think that the revenue loss coverage option doesn't differ a lot from the ARC policy on the Senate side, but probably guarantees a little bit less revenue. Chairman Lucas continues to keep the MAP program and the LST program in place. Crop insurance is strengthened.
"I know that he will receive some criticism for some of the cuts that he is proposing to the nutrition title. But when I read where those cuts are coming from, most of that is being removed from the delivery process of the nutrition program, most of the benefits going to the individuals who need it are unharmed."
"This draft would definitely offer the producer a selection of options whether he wanted to be protected from a deep price loss or have more of a shallow loss type revenue guarantee option and they've made it available that you can select that farm by farm and crop by crop as well. So I think they've done a lot of homework to make it that it would be adaptable to not only the Northern regions but the Southern regions as well."
Neufeld said the current draft also preserves a catastrophic insurance provision for producers who would find that option a better fit with their operations.
"I believe that will be an individual buy-up that you can have here at your county level and I think that will definitely be something that we run the numbers and consider what works best for each operation and for each crop."
Having followed the evolution of the farm legislation as it has progressed through the Senate and now in the House, Nuefeld said he believes the final form of the bill will be good.
"From the conversations that we've had with the chairman and his staff, I really believe that the differences between the Senate package and the House package will be able to be resolved. I think both the Senate and the House realize how important it is that we would have some sort of legislation drafted by the time this bill expires.
"I think one thing we have to remember is that agriculture has been a stable spot in our fragile economy at this point and I think a lot of the lawmakers are starting to understand that."
Neufeld said he is a little concerned that getting sufficient time on the House floor to adequately discuss the bill given the potential avalanche of amendments that could be offered, but he believes Chairman Lucas will ultimately succeed in passing a solid farm bill.
Press on the LISTEN BAR below to hear the entire Ron Hays' entire interview with Scott Neufeld.
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