A Senate Ag Committee economist says not enough ag disaster aid is coming from the Farm Bill and says that stability of the farm safety net is more important than ever as lawmakers continue their talks.
“When you look back, since 2018, we’ve had $93 billion in ad hoc support to agriculture. Seventy percent of that came from outside the Farm Bill, so we know that we need to boost the safety net and make it more reliable,” said Senate Ag Economist John Newton. “We cannot rely on ad hoc support that comes two years after a natural disaster, so that’s been our emphasis for this Farm Bill. How do we find the resources that producers need to manage the risks of agriculture today and that reflects the production environment and the cost environment that we’re in?”
Newton says right now, producers are not seeing a safety net that reflects the reality of the money they’re putting into their crop.
