House Starts Early Discussions About Farm Bill

On Wednesday, the House Agriculture Committee held its first pre-farm bill hearing.  Agriculture economists told lawmakers about the current dire farm economic conditions.  The 2014 farm bill was written at a time of record highs in net farm income.  But farm income since has since dropped 49%, to a projected $62.3 billion in 2017.  House Ag Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, said lawmakers need to take a different approach to the 2018 farm bill.

“We did not save the taxpayers the $23 billion that was promised, we saved them $100 billion.  We saved more than four times what was promised in the last farm bill, and we achieved these savings despite a very sharp and severe downturn in the farm economy.”

The committee’s Minority Leader, Collin Peterson, said farmers are weathering the storm of low commodity prices

“So we got to keep that in mind as we write this bill.  I agree with the chairman that we should write this bill based on what’s needed for agriculture, based on what’s needed for our producers, but not be driven by some outside budget force that somebody has come up with.”

Members of the House Agriculture Committee will begin holding subcommittee farm bill hearings starting February 28^th.  The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold its first farm bill field hearing next Thursday, February 23^rd, in Kansas.

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