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Farm Bill expiration leaves farmers bristling
To the displeasure of many farmers, U.S. Congress let the Farm Bill expire. If the bill passed it would have replaced the 2008 Farm Bill.
Ag organizations are very disappointed and the failure to pass anything could affect farmers across the nation. Farm experts say the bill will actually affect dairy producers more than anyone, but there still are some concerns for farmers and producers when it comes to portions of the farm bill. It's been three days since the Farm Bill expired. "With the Farm Bill expiring it will revert back to the 1949 original farm bill," said UNL Extension Coordinator Ron Seymour. The lack of a bi-partisan agreement is slowing things down, which is a concern according to Seymour. "We really want to see a new farm bill come into play. I'm concerned that we have a lot of issues now about people that are needing payments for drought," said Seymour. However, farmers and producers won't be immediately affected. "Producers today with the high commodity prices such that the Farm Bill really hasn't been engaged sort of speak for our producers because of the prices of our commodities here locally for corn and soybeans," said Hall County Extension Educator Mark Hinze. But it's a different story for diary producers and a bigger problem for consumers who enjoy drinking milk. "It could have a major impact. The price of milk could substantially increase or exponentiate and that'll probably affect the consumers more than it will the producers," said Hinze. Still, Seymour believes that the US Congress should work to keep farmers in business not out of business. "The 1949 bill was developed for that period of time. It doesn't work as well as we would like to see today," Seymour said. "I think it would be smart if our government would partition out the farm bill and separate out the parts like food stamps versus dairy versus grain," said Hinze. The farm bill has been delayed until after the November election. The Milk Income Loss Contract expired on Sunday along with the Farm Bill - it's one of the reasons why the diary industry will be affected. This program compensates diary producers, when domestic milk prices fall below a certain level. |
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