FARM BILL PASSES SENATE – AND YOUR INPUT REQUESTED!

Lindsay Mitchell

Jun 29, 2018  |  Today's News |  Legislation & Regulation |  Farm Policy

Yesterday, the Senate passed a farm bill with a significantly smaller ordeal than the previous debate in the House.  The bill passed as a bipartisan bill, and our number one priority – crop insurance – was preserved.

 

The Senate bill does include language to expand enterprise units which is a positive, but it does not increase funding for our trade programs, MAP, and FMD.  Although, the House bill gives them a new umbrella program and protects them into the future which is a win.

 

ICGA is extremely grateful to both our Illinois Senators for their notice of Illinois farmers yesterday.  Both voted in favor of the final bill, with Senator Duckworth even dismissing her parental leave to vote, understanding how important this bill is for the farmers in Illinois.  Senator Durbin allowed his contentious amendment on crop insurance to fade away and a vote was not even taken on the concept.

 

The next step is for a conference committee to discuss the differences in the two bills, most notably a work program for food stamp eligibility that was included in the House version and not in the Senate version.  We appear to be closer than most thought we would be to getting a new farm bill finalized by the expiration date of the current bill.

 

YOUR INPUT REQUESTED ON CROP INSURANCE

 

And while we’ve got your attention on crop insurance, the Illinois Corn Growers Association is assisting the National Corn Growers Association to move a potential new crop insurance product forward.  This new product would lower crop insurance premiums for farmers who are improving their soil health and lowering their risk by implementing conservation practices such as planting cover crops, practicing conservation tillage, and applying nitrogen in the spring.

 

In order for this new product proposal to move forward, we must demonstrate that farmers are interested in the idea and would potentially utilize the new product, should it become available.

 

Would you be interested in helping us show that farmers are interested in this idea by completing the following survey?

 

Click here for survey

 

The survey will take about 5 minutes to complete.  Your answers are confidential and will only be used to show that farmers have interest in lowering their crop insurance premiums by adopting conservation practices.

 

Thank you for helping us improve risk management options for Illinois corn farmers!