Posted July 21, 2014
On July 10, the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management held a hearing to examine the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s efforts as it implements the new commodity and crop insurance titles of the Agricultural Act of 2014, according to a High Plains Journal article by Larry Dreiling available here. The Wisconsin Ag Connection also published an article available here.
“I commend USDA’s initial efforts to implement the Agricultural Act of 2014, and I challenge them to fully deliver on the promises made to our farmers and ranchers in the law,” said chairman Mike Conaway, R-TX. “Specifically, USDA must make it a priority to implement the Actual Production History (APH) adjustment because it provides critical relief for producers who have struggled with severe and devastating drought conditions for the past four years.”
Acting Chairman Rodney Davis (R-IL) said that it was important to hold this hearing on the benefits of biotechnology, because the stakes are high and biotech has a story to tell, according to Wisconsin Ag Connection.
“Our farmers have the vital job of feeding a growing world and biotechnology is part of the solution. I’m excited for the future and believe the United States must continue to safely innovate through biotechnology to achieve higher crop yields, fewer hungry people and an improved environment,” Davis said.
Conaway and others have asked the USDA to implement the adjustment in time to help farmers afford to plant their crops for the 2015 harvest, but the USDA will not be able to put in place until the fall of 2015 for 2016 crops, according to High Plains Journal.
“After years of prolonged drought, [Oklahoma farmers] are now paying much higher rates,” said House Agriculture Committee chairman Frank Lucas, R-OK, one of the farm bill’s four architects.
The farm bill provision will allow producers to exclude years of poor yields from the APH calculation to establish insurance policies if the average crop yield in a county for any one crop is 50 percent below the county’s 10-year average.
For more information on biotechnology, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
Share: