Farm Bill In September?

The Agriculture Secretary and several U.S. senators expect the Farm Bill to be finalized before the deadline of the end of the month.

“There is not going to be another extension. You can’t reward continued failure by taking folks off the hook,” said Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack. “There are differences and those differences can be worked out. There are many benefits to this new farm bill. There is no reason not to get this done.”

Secretary Vilsack pointed out a number of implications with continued inaction on the farm bill. One of those looming challenges is an ongoing trade dispute with Brazil. He says Brazil won a case with the World Trade Organization which means that they can retaliate, if they so desire, against American goods and services to the tune of perhaps $850 million a year. According to Vilsack, the passage of a farm bill that changes the way we support cotton farmers will go a long way to ending Brazil’s ability to retaliate. This is one impact of inaction from Congress in getting the farm bill done.

“A second impact would be a longer term problem of permanent law, 1940s law, coming back into play that would create serious distortion in the market. That will really stall the momentum we’ve seen in agriculture in the last few years,” Secretary Vilsack said.

We look forward to hearing Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh’s take on a new farm bill during our Fall Convention next month in Indianapolis. For full details, go to FarmEquip.org/fc.