Posted July 21, 2014
On July 10, the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and
Risk Management held a hearing to examine the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA)’s efforts as it implements the new commodity and crop insurance titles
of the Agricultural Act of 2014, according to a High Plains Journal article by
Larry Dreiling available here.
The Wisconsin Ag Connection also published an article available here.
“I commend USDA’s 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.”
Acting
Chairman Rodney Davis (R-IL) said that it was important to hold this hearing on
the benefits of biotechnology, because the stakes are high and biotech has a story
to tell, according to Wisconsin
Ag Connection.
"Our farmers have the vital job of feeding a growing world and biotechnology is part of the solution. I'm excited for the future and believe the United States must continue to safely innovate through biotechnology to achieve higher crop yields, fewer hungry people and an improved environment," Davis said.
"Our farmers have the vital job of feeding a growing world and biotechnology is part of the solution. I'm excited for the future and believe the United States must continue to safely innovate through biotechnology to achieve higher crop yields, fewer hungry people and an improved environment," Davis said.
Conaway and others have asked the USDA to implement the
adjustment in time to help farmers afford to plant their crops for the 2015
harvest, but the USDA will not be able to put in place until the fall of 2015
for 2016 crops, according to High
Plains Journal.
“After years of prolonged drought, [Oklahoma farmers] are
now paying much higher rates,” said House Agriculture Committee chairman Frank
Lucas, R-OK, one of the farm bill’s four architects.
The farm bill provision will allow producers to exclude
years of poor yields from the APH calculation to establish insurance policies
if the average crop yield in a county for any one crop is 50 percent below the
county’s 10-year average.
For more information on biotechnology, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
