Agricultural News
House Version of Farm Bill Has Advantages Over Senate Version, AFR President Says
Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:31:33 CDT
Terry Detrick, a farmer from Ames, Oklahoma, and the president of the American Farmers and Ranchers Insurance, has been keeping an eye on the 2012 farm bill as it makes its way through Congress. He recently spoke with Ron Hays about how his members see the debate shaping up.
"We like the House version much better than we do the Senate version. And one of the primary reasons we do is because the House version includes some target prices. You know, so many times it's easy for us to get lured into the thoughts that oil prices are pretty good now and we'll never see low prices again. That's never been the case. And we will see low prices again. The House version recognizes that."
Though farmers and ranchers may prefer the House bill here in Oklahoma, it is not very popular with liberals in Washington, Detrick says.
"One of the things that's unpopular about with it in Washington , D.C., is how many cuts they gave to the nutritional programs, that they gave a lot more in the House than the Senate did, but there's absolutely zero intent to deprive anyone of food to eat. All that the House bill does is to try its best to close some abuse loopholes. And there have been abuses. And they have addressed those extensively."
Detrick says there's one commodity that is in increasingly short supply among politicians these days-compromise.
"And I think this is something that we certainly need Washington, D.C., to pay attention to, that democracy-in its truest form, is the art of compromise. And, boy, have we seen a lack of that for the last year or so. And I think the best legislation is when neither side gets everything that it wants. And we've got to push for that. When we go to the polls in November, we need to be asking people who we're going to vote for: 'Are you able to work with both sides of the aisle? Are you willing to compromise? And are you willing to really practice the art of democracy?' And when we do, I think we'll see this entire country take some giant strides of progress."
Detrick said his members are also paying very close attention to the drought which now affects about 72 percent of the communities in the state. It is not yet as bad as last year's drought, but farmers and ranchers are definitely feeling the impact. Cattle producers, in particular, are facing difficult times due to the fact that a new farm bill is not yet in place. He said there have been suggestions to bridge that gap, but they could prove to be inadequate.
"There's a lot of talk about extending the '08 farm bill. Part of the '08 bill, disaster programs for livestock producers, has already expired. And there is nothing there- Our big goal today is that we've got to have programs that will insure that in times of disaster, we still have farmers and ranchers around next year."
Detrick says area meetings for members of American Farmers and Ranchers are coming up in August. Members will gather to discuss the direction of the organization and its goals for the coming year. Detrick says he hopes to get a lot of answers to the question, 'What can we do to serve you better?'"
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear Ron Hays' full conversation with Terry Detrick. You can also see them this Saturday morning on "In the Field" about 6:40 on News 9.
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