05/08/2023

At Farm Bill Hearing, Rural Lenders, Crop Insurers Push for Bolstered Safety Net

The original farm bill was enacted as part of FDR's New Deal legislation

Rural bank executives and crop insurance agents testified at a Thursday Senate hearing in support of a modernized crop insurance market that helps upstart producers manage growing risks, and supports food security.

The witnesses told the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry that crop insurance represents one of the most important financial tools in the agricultural producer's toolbox. They added that efforts to weaken it or tie it to climate provisions in the farm bill would undercut the economies of rural America that depend on it.

"I would submit that it’s the only viable risk management tool that our farmers have today," said William Cole, the Crop Insurance Professionals Association's chairman. "It's the underpinning of all of our rural communities to a certain extent."

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Ohio Capital Journal.