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First of House Ag farm income hearings has an eye on the future

[/title][fusion_text]Thursday, April 14th 2016

The topic of declining farm income is not a new one, but lawmakers and farm group leaders approached it in a new way on Thursday, framing the conversation around the lessons learned going into the next farm bill. The House Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management held the first of a six-part series of hearings to “Focus on the Farm Economy,” fixing the conversation on farm income and how producers are reacting to the changing economic times. Duvall and other witnesses all stressed the need for a safety net – such as crop insurance or commodity assistance policies, like Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) or Price Loss Coverage (PLC) – given current economic conditions. Joe Outlaw, an agricultural economics professor and extension economist with Texas A&M, said the debate over which producer assistance program is most important is a moot point, because both have proven to be critical to producers.

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