WASHINGTON D.C.–The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee passed the 2013 Farm Bill earlier this week that could have large implications on farmers all over the country.
Politicians out of Washington D.C. have reiterated that the 5-year farm bill would cut the deficit and also increase subsidies to farmers.
One of the things to come out of the massive bill is that $5 billion in direct payment subsidies to farmers would be cut and replaced with other subsidies based on commodity prices.
For example, if peanut prices went under a certain threshold then those farmers would be compensated, but in recent years prices have been so high that this practice hasn’t really been needed.
This bill would also increase crop insurance subsidies to help farmers on a needed basis, instead of paying direct payments no matter what kind of year the industry is having.
“To receive that crop insurance they [farmers] also need to be complying with conservation practices,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).
And that was one of the things stressed by Stabenow on a conference call with reporters Thursday is that this bill would bring conservation to the forefront for all agriculture practices.
