NCGA Affirms Its Farm Policy Principles
March 19, 2013 At its recent Corn Congress policy meeting and in a board meeting held this week in Washington, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) upheld its call for a new, substantive five-year farm bill that includes a strong federal crop insurance program and a market-oriented risk-management program.
“As our country continues to rack up record budget deficits, NCGA appreciates the need for more efficient programs that help farmers better manage risk and cost taxpayers less money,” said NCGA President Pam Johnson. “In the midst of an unprecedented level of national debt, corn growers believe it is time to make fundamental changes to long-established farm programs. We support reforms that will provide growers only when assistance is most needed.”
For growers, especially young and beginning farmers, managing the potential loss of revenue is vital. Johnson said that NCGA has long supported risk management tools that complement federal crop insurance to protect farmers against multi-year declines in prices and/or yields.
Delays in this farm bill process have resulted in a new spending baseline from the Congressional Budget Office that makes it more difficult to advance much-needed reforms in commodity programs. NCGA is carefully evaluating potential modifications to previous revenue-based risk management concepts that will fit within the tighter budget constraints.
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