House ag panels examine farm bill, biotech

House ag panels examine farm bill, biotech

By Larry Dreiling

The 2014 Farm Act and the benefits of biotechnology came under scrutiny in the last few days by members of the House Agriculture Committee.

The Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management held a hearing July 10 to examine the efforts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as it implements the new commodity and crop insurance titles of the Agricultural Act of 2014, otherwise known as the farm bill.

Members of the subcommittee questioned Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services Michael Scuse on the status of implementing key provisions.

The Agricultural Act of 2014 made sweeping reforms to the commodity title repealing several programs and providing producers with an option between Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC). Neither option triggers unless the producer suffers a significant loss. The farm bill also improved crop insurance, which now serves as the core risk management tool for producers when disaster strikes.

I commend USDAs 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.

Producers suffering from a drought shouldnt have to wait until the third year of a five-year farm bill to receive relief, particularly when Congress intended for it to be available immediately.

The delay in the APH adjustment was the topic of fiery talk at the hearing, according to the Capitol Hill publication Politico.

Conaway and others have called on USDA to implement the adjustment in time to help farmers afford to plant their crops for the 2015 harvest, but Scuse said that wouldnt be possible. Its an overly complex provision and USDA will not be able to put in place until the fall of 2015 for 2016 crops, he said.

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House ag panels examine farm bill, biotech