News Room
At long last, come to agreement on farm bill
by Craig Lang
Waiting for Congress to finalize the 2008 farm bill is like waiting to see smoke come out of the top of the Capitol dome. Lawmakers are having trouble trying to fashion a resolution to an age-old political dynamic: too much need, not enough money.
The usual suspects are on the table - disaster relief, crop subsidies, nutrition programs, soil conservation/wildlife habitat, bioenergy and crop insurance. But before final decisions are made, there are so many uncontrollable factors to consider.
As I write this, temperatures are fluctuating between a high of 50 and a low below freezing with more snow, and more than a dozen counties in our state are experiencing flash flooding. With spring rains and the winter melt converging, it brings inconveniences to homeowners and uncertainty to farmers. How many of our fields will be flooded?
Hard as it might be to find additional resources, Congress must resist the temptation to raid the crop-insurance program. It is the safety net upon which farmers depend in uncertain times, when changes in the weather and in the markets are around every corner.
Crop prices look good now. But, as they say, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Prices fluctuate, markets tend to be cyclical and - as we see every night on the evening news - the weather is unpredictable, not just in Iowa, but across the nation. The farm bill negotiators in Washington must be careful not to make the dangerous assumption that the "days of wine and roses" will continue uninterrupted.
More than ever before, our farm states are being asked to produce more products and achieve higher yields. Agricultural crops for food, feed and fuel are in great demand, both domestically and abroad. New technology, innovation, access to capital and affordable risk management have allowed America's farmers to meet the growing demands so far.
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