Agricultural News
Farm Bill Passes Senate, Moves to President
Tue, 04 Feb 2014 15:13:44 CST
The National Corn Growers Association thanked members of the Senate for their passage today, with a 68-32 vote, of the 2014 farm bill. The bill passed the House on January 29 and now goes to President Obama for signing.
"We're happy to see the farm bill pass the Senate and are looking forward to seeing it signed and implemented," said NCGA President Martin Barbre. "It was a long time coming for a bill so important for promoting stability in farm policy while saving taxpayers money and feeding the hungry. While it's not perfect, we're pleased to see the bill contains many provisions we've been working hard for over the years."
Barbre in particular pointed out that the new legislation provides the farmers the option to participate in either the revenue-based Agriculture Risk Coverage program (with county or farm-level options) or a Price Loss Coverage program with fixed reference prices. The ARC will provide a band of coverage for 76 to 86 percent of the benchmark revenue.
Among other specific provisions, the bill:
• Eliminates direct payments while maintaining decoupled farm support programs that will minimize the possibility of planting and production distortions that could trigger new World Trade Organization challenges.
• Consolidates 23 previous conservation programs into 13, and focuses conservation efforts on working lands. It also ties conservation compliance for wetlands and highly erodible land to premium support for crop insurance.
• Maintains authorizations for important agricultural research programs, including AFRI, as well as including a new Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research that will provide a structure and mandatory funding for new public/private partnerships and investments that will further USDA's research mission.
• Maintains authorizations and funding levels for export promotion, including the Foreign Market Development (FMD) Program and the Market Access Program (MAP).
• Continues the combined authorization of both agricultural and nutrition programs, a linkage that has been essential in enacting every farm bill since 1974.
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