Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays is talking with the Treasurer of the National Association of Wheat Growers, Keeff Felty of Southwestern Oklahoma. Felty talks with Hays about NAWG’s part in the 2023 Farm Bill conversation.
“We finalized our policy at our annual meeting in the first part of March at the commodity classic and we subsequently followed up with a zoom summer meeting in June and prioritized the top ten things from each of our policy committees that we were going to pursue in this next farm bill,” Felty said. “Most recently, we have sent a letter to the principal- they call it the four corners- the chairman, and the ranking member of the House in the Senate Ag committees expressing what our priorities are for the upcoming farm bill and getting started on the process because it is just a little over a year until this one expires and we are either going to get a new one or possibly an extension. That is yet to be determined.”
In conjunction with that, Felty said NAWG will be having a fly on September 12-14 where member states will be invited to take part in preparatory work and to get started on the process.
The number one priority when talking to the House Ag committees, Felty said, is preserving crop insurance.
“We are looking at increasing the reference price for our ARC/PLC payments- PLC more in particular for wheat- and we realize that would require an increase in baseline and some other things, but we are trying to get it more in line with cost production and that is one of our other big components,” Felty said.
A worry for producers as we go into this next farm bill, Felty said, is having adequate resources.
“That is always a concern going into a farm bill and these high prices may actually possibly work against us in that because in Washington if you didn’t use it the year before, then they see it as not necessary,” Felty said. “So, this past year, there is not going to be a lot of ARC/PLC payments in any regard due to the high commodity prices.”
With input costs much higher than we have seen in recent memory, it makes it tougher to pencil things out.
“Fortunately, things are coming back into line, and you couple that with the drought that is ongoing in most of the country and the potential for your higher prices with limited production that a lot of us are seeing with the input cost coupled in there, you know, it is a challenge,” Felty said.
Felty said it is important for the House and Senate ag leadership to know the importance of the farm safety net and how important agriculture is to the overall economy of the United States, especially in rural communities- many of which are the drivers in the base of our economy.
“Having that base foundation is critical,” Felty said.
Click the LISTEN BAR below to hear more from Keeff Felty and Ron Hays on NAWG’s priorities in the 2023 Farm Bill.
