When you follow global weather conditions, it’s not just our country that is facing serious weather patterns. From extreme heat and drought to farmers toiling under the ravages of war, our world’s farmers and the food they produce are in serious jeopardy. The old adage of food security is rapidly becoming food insecurity.
To add insult to injury, farmers are attempting to keep up to speed on HPAI (H5N1), which has been confirmed on at least 85 dairy herds in various states. National Farmers dairy and livestock divisions have been enacting new protocols and procedures for members and staff to follow to help mitigate these circumstances.
This is all happening during a time of volatile and often low farm commodity prices. However, our producers and staff continue to do a great job maneuvering through all the challenges they face on a daily basis. Despite all of this, our organization continues to grow and expand into new areas.
The House Ag Committee rolled out their first proposal for the next Farm Bill in late May. It addresses key areas including reference prices, base acres and federal programs. Regarding the base acres, if you plant more acres than you have base acres, the excess would increase to reflect what your plantings were over the average of 2019 to 2023 years.
Meanwhile over in the Senate, their priorities are modernizing risk management tools. They propose increasing all commodity reference prices by an average of 15 percent. They also want to make crop insurance more affordable while increasing coverages. Senate leaders also want to double funding for trade in order to grow our agricultural exports. They also propose increasing funding for conservation practices by 25 percent yearly, as well as doubling the budget for research to spur innovation and productivity.
Of course, these are only initial proposals in both the House and Senate. There will be a lot of horse trading before anything close to a bill can be voted on.
I have no doubt that weather conditions will make a huge impact on farm gate prices for the next several months. Until next time, stay safe and always remember farmers working together can make a difference.
