The House could vote on its version of the 2018 farm bill as early as this fall, said Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway at a farm bill “listening session” in his home state of Texas, the No. 1 cotton and cattle producer in the country. After an unsuccessful redesign of the cotton program in the 2014 law, cotton growers repeatedly said their crop must be eligible for the same subsidies as the other major U.S. crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat.
Conaway told the audience at the session in San Angelo, Texas, that his committee “will start the farm bill process … with staff [workers] and others over the next eight weeks or so.” He later said, “I am driven to get it done, renewed, before [the 2014 law] expires” on Sept. 30, 2018. Congress was more than a year late with passage of the 2014 law.
“I hope to have the House version on the floor in the fourth quarter of calendar ’17, first quarter of calendar ’18, which will give us the time … to make those hard, difficult decisions we will have to make to get this thing done on time,” said the chairman. Conaway said he has conferred with House Republican leaders about debate time for the farm bill. The Senate Agriculture Committee chairman also has expressed the desire to move the Senate version this year, if possible.
Farm bills are full-spectrum legislation, ranging from public nutrition to crop subsidies and international food aid. They usually require up to a week of floor debate, followed by House-Senate negotiations over a final version. Farm-state lawmakers expect the 2018 farm bill will carry forward most of the salient parts of the 2014 law, including the two-track approach to crop subsidies. Growers have the choice of an insurance-type subsidy based on yields and market prices or a traditionally designed program with a minimum price for crops and that issues payments when market prices are below triggers set by law.
Texas Farm Bureau president Russell Boening was the first speaker at the session, and the first of several to say “cotton needs to go back into Title I of the farm bill,” the traditional home of crop subsidies. To resolve a WTO ruling against U.S. cotton subsidies, Congress converted the cotton program into a revenue insurance policy coupled with a so-called marketing loan to encourage sales. Enrollment in the STAX insurance policy has been anemic amid a worldwide slump in cotton prices, and STAX has provided little protection to growers.
The National Cotton Council, the umbrella group for growers, ginners, merchants, warehouses, cottonseed processors and textile manufacturers, says “a meaningful safety net for cotton must be included in Title I of the farm bill.” The Cotton Council has not settled on a plan yet, but its survey of growers indicated the safety net should “take into consideration the full value of the cotton crop.” At present, the industry is pursuing cost-share payments for ginning cotton, the process of separating seed from cotton fiber, and including cottonseed among the “other oilseeds” eligible for crop subsidies.
At a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing last week, the Cotton Council said an effective safety net should include protection against prolonged periods of low prices and crop insurance against poor yields and low prices.
The most obvious shortcomings of the 2014 farm law are the cotton and dairy supports. Both will be expensive to upgrade, according to analysts. Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts says additional funding is unlikely for the farm bill. The House Budget Committee has voted for cuts, expected to land on food stamps, in farm bill programs for the coming decade.
In an essay in the San Angelo Standard-Times, Conaway wrote, “I don’t need to tell you times are tough in farm country” following the collapse in 2013 of a seven-year commodity boom. After saying the new farm bill should address farmers and rural America, he focused on cotton: “America’s cotton producers have been struggling to scrape by without a safety net to help them manage through these tough times. I’m committed to finding a solution to address the situation for those cotton farmers in need.”
To watch a video of the listening session, click here.