(image from USDA)
Maintaining a strong farm safety net and increased funding for promoting exports are two priorities for the next U.S. Farm Bill, according to Nebraska producers.
Nearly all farm groups agree that maintaining a strong crop insurance program in the next farm bill is essential.
Steve Ebke with the Nebraska Corn Growers Association says they are also seeking improvements to the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) formulas. He says that’s needed so ARC remains a viable option.
“We are focused on developing recommendations to improve the ARC program to ensure that it is a real choice in terms of providing comparable risk management effectiveness,” Ebke said at a recent Farm Bill roundtable discussion.
The Nebraska Soybean Association also wants to see funding doubled for the Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development program.
The association points out that those two programs have not seen an increase since the 2002 Farm Bill.
But U.S. Senator Deb Fischer, (NE-R) says just keeping farm bill spending at current levels will be a challenge.
“We’re hearing from some groups in Washington who are targeting the Farm Bill as the number one program to eliminate,” Fischer told producers. “That cannot happen.”
The current Farm Bill funds agriculture programs through 2018.
Ken Anderson, Brownfield Ag News, contributed to this report.