As the end of the year is quickly approaching, many questions regarding the country’s legislation, that has expired or is set to expire soon, still remain. The election results have done little to move issues along.
Even though President Barack Obama won both the popular and electoral votes, many in the American agricultural sector are concerned what this will mean for the industry.
According to an Agri Marketing magazine post-election poll, over two-thirds of the individuals polled believe that the reelection of President Obama will have a negative effect on the country’s agriculture industry.
Industry concerns:
Congress is back in session in the time known as lame duck session, when historically not much is accomplished; however, this lame duck session is expected to be more active than in years past due to the farm bill and “fiscal cliff”. Expectations are hopeful among the agriculture community for Congress to address the farm bill during the lame duck session, but it is still unclear if they will agree on some sort of resolution, either short or long term, in order to avoid resorting back to antiquated agriculture laws.
While the Republicans are pushing hard for deeper cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Democrats are holding strong on smaller cuts to the program. The government keeps pushing the farm bill back and much of the controversy lies in the SNAP program; however, looking at the entire budget for the next ten years, the farm bill only accounts for a projected estimate of 2.15 percent of the total budget.
Despite the fact that SNAP is the largest chunk of the farm bill, it still is not a significant amount of the overall federal budget. At the end of the day, the amount being argued over is trivial when compared to the lack of farm bill that exists and how much it affects America’s farmers.
At this point, a large majority are losing faith that a new farm bill will be passed before January 1.
Government Concerns:
Along with the expired farm bill, the House is working on other negotiations to avoid the “fiscal cliff” at the beginning of next year. The “fiscal cliff” controversy is creating a strong push for budget cuts.
When looking at the farm bill, a major concern is the amount of money that is spent each year on SNAP and how much this amount has increased since the program started. Since many of the policies in the farm bill don’t expire until the end of the year, Congress is not seeing the immediate effects of the expired bill.
While both producers and the government are facing concerns with the expired farm bill, each side views the issue differently. Producers fear the uncertainty for next year’s planting season, while Congress is arguing over what can be cut from the budget.
The lack of a farm bill creates uncertainty and instability in the agriculture industry which trickles down to every part of the industry including application in general and equipment manufacturing – obviously top of mind for us. Without the federal government acting in interest of production agriculture by way of a farm bill that includes proactive measures in the areas of crop insurance, conservation and disaster assistance, the industry faces the potential for major setbacks.
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