Farmers Have Other Concerns Than Farm Bill

Farmers are more concerned with trade and being burdened with overregulation, rather than the farm bill, according to one U.S. Senator.

Republican Roy Blunt of Missouri said during a Senate hearing last week that “the farm bill never came up” during a recent listening session with farmers in his state.  Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told Congress that low commodity prices, slumping farm income, attacks on the ethanol industry and a possible trade war are all causing anxiety in farm country.

Perdue added those issues “have overshadowed” farm bill discussions, even as the House Agriculture Committee released its draft of the farm bill last week with markup of the bill this week. Meanwhile, House Agriculture Ranking Democrat Collin Peterson described the farm bill to reporters last week as the fifth item farmers bring up right now. Peterson says “some groups never bring up the farm bill,” and instead focus on the other issues impacting agriculture.

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