Kentucky Farm Bureau President Mark Haney told the Senate Agriculture Committee last week (July 17-21, 2017) that lawmakers need to counter a steep, four-year drop in commodity prices that has left farmers and ranchers in worse shape than any time since the farm depression of the 1980s. He explained in a Newsline (podcast) that given the state of the farm economy, protecting farm bill spending and maintaining the farm safety net is critical in the next farm bill.  

A goal of Farm Bureau for the new farm bill is to “keep the safety net of crop insurance at the center,” Haney said. “However, we want to be able to expand programs that help dairy, we want to be able to utilize and enhance the ARC county program, the PLC, all those that we want to be in place.  We want to be able to choose, reenroll in the new farm bill, and really be able to use those programs.”