Posted October 10, 2013
House GOP leaders will appoint farm bill conferees in the next week, according to U.S. Representative Kristi Noem (R-SD), member of the House Agriculture Committee. A press release from Rep. Noem’s office is available here.
Noem said that she has received an assurance from Speaker John Boehner that he will appoint House conferees within the next week to the House-Senate farm bill conference committee. Once House conferees are named, formal negotiations can begin, bringing the farm bill one step closer to completion.
Noem said, “I spoke this morning at our weekly Republican meeting and described to my colleagues the devastation in western South Dakota that has resulted from the weekend storm. The lack of a comprehensive Farm Bill leaves all of our producers without the certainty they need. This is especially true of our livestock producers who are currently without the protection of a livestock disaster program.”
Noem has authored legislation that reauthorizes these programs and retroactively covers livestock losses due to disasters like the recent storm in western South Dakota. A historic blizzard killed an estimated 60,000 head of cattle over the weekend in western South Dakota. For more information on the effects of the storm on livestock producers, an article by Reuters is available here.
The farm bill expired on September 30, ending several food aid, rural development, and agricultural programs. The major deadline is January 1, when a 1949 law requires that subsidy prices begin to increase, starting with dairy payments, according to an article by the Des Moines Register, available here. The increase could double the price of milk to $7 a gallon and increases in the price of wheat and other commodities could follow.
For more information on farm bills, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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