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Pressed by a crowded legislative agenda for the remainder of the
year, the House and Agriculture Committees marked up their
respective versions of a new farm bill this week with minimal drama.
Despite the need to extract additional budget savings from some high
priority programs, both committees were able to secure significant
bipartisan votes. The Senate is now scheduled to take up the bill
early next week with the House expected to debate the new farm bill
later in June.
While the Senate Ag Committee adopted changes to the Commodity Title
in an attempt to address concerns raised by peanut and rice
producers, the House Ag Committee leadership opted to keep intact
its proposal for fixed target prices re-coupled to planted acres
rather than historical base acres. In addition, a Revenue Loss
Coverage option (triggers at 85% of county’s crop revenue guarantee)
would be available to producers whom chose not to purchase the
Supplemental Crop Insurance Option. More recent analysis by the
Congressional Budget Office as well as economic analysis conducted
for NCGA project low enrollment of corn, soybean and wheat acres in
this program.
In a surprising development, Senators Pat Roberts (R-KS), John Thune
(R-SD) and Mike Johanns (R-NE), voted to oppose the Senate Ag
Committee despite securing a key change in the Adverse Market
Payments program that eliminated fixed target prices for crops
(other than rice and peanuts) replacing it with a more market
oriented formula supported by NCGA. As a result, the revenue based
Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) program and target prices decoupled
from planted acres could be at risk during conference negotiations,
assuming both Committee approved bills are passed by the respective
chambers.
As expected, the Senate Agriculture Committee approved language that
codifies the agreement between farm and conservation/environmental
groups to link conservation compliance to the federal crop insurance
program. This major change in policy was accompanied by a removal of
an AGI means test for crop insurance premium assistance. Although
the House Ag Committee does not include the conservation compliance
agreement, we anticipate an amendment on the House floor to
incorporate the same language that would, in effect, preempt more
onerous requirements and funding cuts to the federal crop insurance
program.
Summary of Key Changes:
Commodity Title
Senate: Coverage for county or farm level revenue guarantee lowered
- 79-89 % to 78 to 88%
Adverse Market Payments – Higher Fixed Target Prices for Rice and
Peanuts; Market Oriented formula for other major crops; .55 of
rolling 5 year Olympic average of season prices
All payments delayed until after Oct. 1 of each year. (same as House
version)
Crop Insurance Title
Senate:
Supplemental Coverage Option – Subsidy reduced to 65 from 70 %
Conservation Compliance
New crop insurance policies for Rice and Peanuts
Improvements in transition yields
Improved test weight provisions
House:
Supplemental Coverage Option – Subsidy reduced to 65 from 70 %
New crop insurance policies for Rice and Peanuts
Improvements in transition yields
ACTION NEEDED: We will continue to push for
expedited action on both the House and Senate bills while advocating
for a strong crop insurance program and market oriented reforms to
the Commodity Title.
This week, the long-overdue Water Resources
Development Act (WRDA) passed the Senate. The bill contained key
measures of the Inland Waterways Capital Development Plan (CDP) that
KyCGA has promoted for several years. The CDP reforms the way that
Lock and Dam projects are prioritized and revamps their construction
processes to more of a common-sense approach. It will allow them a
better chance of being completed on time and on budget.
Prioritization is based on risk of failure and benefits to the
nation with an emphasis on finishing projects already underway and
ensuring that funding is available to efficiently complete work.
The bill also streamlines completion of Olmsted Lock
and Dam in near Paducah. This detail is of specific interest to
Kentucky farmers, who rely heavily on the Ohio River to move grain.
Olmsted has drastically exceeded its initial budget; and the project
is decades behind its original completion goal. The Senate’s WRDA
removes this project from the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, and
places the remainder of the cost into general treasury revenue. This
action will free up around $750 million to the trust fund to
complete other navigation projects on the backlogged docket. But
more importantly, it allows separate funding for Olmsted completion,
instead starting and stopping work, caused by intermittent funding
though the Trust Fund.
KyCGA appreciates the impact that Kentucky
legislators placed on this process.
“We recognize that Senator McConnell attended to
this bill in very close fashion as it moved through the Senate,"
said Adam Andrews, Director of Programs, "and in the House,
Congressman Whitfield has introduced WAVE4 that contains the Capital
Development Plan.”
KyCGA sent letters to each member of Kentucky’s
Congressional Delegation requesting co-sponsorship of WAVE4. Farmers
are encouraged to contact their Representative to ask that them to
sign on to HR 1149.
| With less than a month left to take advantage of the early
registration discount, the National Corn Growers Association
reminds those interested in the 2013 National Corn Yield Contest
that time remains to enjoy valuable savings while participating
in this popular program. The online entry format makes entry
quick and simple, but growers wishing to take advantage of the
reduced $80 per hybrid entry fee must do so by June 15. After
that, NCGA will continue to accept entries until the July 12
deadline, but fees will return to the normal rate of $110 per
hybrid.
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