Source: United States Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn)
WATCH KLOBUCHAR FULL QUESTIONS HERE
WASHINGTON – At a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing to examine the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) highlighted the importance of strong investments in commodity and crop insurance programs.
Klobuchar underscored the need to continue bolstering the effectiveness and affordability of crop insurance programs: “[These programs are] such an important corner of our safety net. Most farmers believe it’s working well but have ideas for change.”
Klobuchar also asked Risk Management Agency (RMA) Administrator Marcia Bunger about solutions to strengthen crop insurance for specialty growers: “Given the challenges producers, especially crop producers, have faced over the last five years and the lessons we have learned from the disaster assistance, some of it ad hoc. We have had some good experiences and bad in the Midwest, but many good experiences as well. What recommendations do you have to improve crop insurance options for specialty crop growers?”
Administrator Bunger responded: “I think the best way to get the most results is to engage with stakeholders. We have seen a significant amount of interest in our whole farm revenue policy with our RMA road shows along with our micro farm. Especially with the changes we made to reduce the red tape when applying for those types of policies…so we are not going to try to fix anything that is broken at this point, we are going to continue our education efforts.”
Klobuchar has long led efforts to strengthen conservation practices and provide stability for farmers and ranchers across Minnesota. Last month, she introduced bipartisan legislation with Senator John Thune (R-SD) to improve agricultural data collection and research to connect farmers with the most effective conservative practices. She and Thune also introduced bipartisan legislation last April to improve the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) by bolstering access to grazing, providing more enrollment options to producers, and addressing CRP implementation issues following the 2018 farm bill.
Last spring, Klobuchar secured significant federal disaster assistance to help Minnesota commodity and specialty crop producers impacted by natural disasters and farmers impacted by storms.
A transcript of Klobuchar’s questions is given below. Video is available for TV download HERE and for online viewing HERE.
Senator Klobuchar: Thank you, I know you got, Mr. Bonnie, questions about the federal crop insurance program. And it’s such an important corner of our safety net. Any ideas you have, most farmers believe it’s working well, but have ideas for change. Any ideas you want to share to continue its effectiveness but also its affordability?
Mr. Bonnie: Yeah I think we will continue to look at ways that we can broaden the program to get more producers in, to create more tools. And hearing from all of you, but from our producers, is critically important to that.
Senator Klobuchar: My staff recently went on an ag staff tour. And one issue that was raised was about the Emergency Relief Program, and they are grateful for the quick and effective approach taken during the implementation of the ERP Phase 1. But a number of them have been less enthusiastic of the income tax based approach taken during the roll out of the ERP Phase 2. Could you speak to any concerns you’ve heard and how it will inform any improvements we should make?
Mr. Bonnie: The goal in ERP 2 is to make sure we make assistance available to all those producers, including those producers who haven’t had access to crop insurance or NAP. And so the purpose here is to provide a revenue based approach that can broaden the safety net to get all those folks in. So that is what we’re trying to do here. We are trying to open the doors up to make sure all of agriculture can take advantage. If at the end of that, we have additional resources, that we can think about shallow loss programs to deal with some of the concerns I think that your producers are raising, we are happy to look at that.
Senator Klobuchar: Okay. Mr. Ducheneaux, we all know, Mr. Bonnie has talked about this, the efforts to ease the burdens in applying for USDA programs. What steps is FSA taking to streamline and decrease the turnaround time for guaranteed and direct loan applications?
Mr. Ducheneaux: Thank you ma’am, I appreciate the question. We recently announced that we went from a 29 page application down to a 13 page application. A couple of those pages are the legalese that we need to have on there, so we’re down to a 12 page application which really looks like a financial document instead of a narrative based product. So we are helping our producers get the right information to our staff so we can ideally make more timely decisions. I understand the importance of credit very deeply, being a child of the farm financial crisis from the 80s. So I understand how important that is and understand that a decision on credit too late is as bad as a denial. So we really want to fix that.
Senator Klobuchar: Okay, thank you. Mr. Bonnie, Senator Thune and I have recently introduced the Ag Innovation Act which would help farmers determine the value of emerging conservation and production practices. Do you have an update on the status of the report that we included a requirement for the 2018 Farm Bill?
Mr. Bonnie: I don’t. I would be happy to report and get back to your staff about that. I will just say we really appreciate your leadership on this issue, it is critically important.
Senator Klobuchar: Okay. What about, again for you, Mr. Bonnie, this is on dairy. Small and medium size dairy farms make up a majority, still of dairy farms, in the nation, certainly true in my state. When evaluating dairy programs like the Dairy Margin Coverage program, what would be the most helpful to keep our small and medium size farms in business when we look at any policy changes?
Mr. Bonnie: I think it’s been a really, really important program as I mentioned early. We’ve tried to update the prices to make sure it is as effective as we can and as reflective of what producers are seeing on the ground and to provide supplemental questions as well. I think we would welcome a conversation with all of you to make sure it continues to work for our producers.
Senator Klobuchar: Okay, thank you. And I appreciate your short answers. It just allows us, you’re not filibustering, it’s like the best thing ever. In last week’s hearing, your colleague Under Secretary Taylor, Mr. Bonnie, confirmed that she would work together with you to maintain a stocks-to-use level in the United States between 13.5 percent and 15.5 percent which provides for a reliable and stable supply of sugar to both consumers, food manufacturers. Do you feel that range represents an adequate supply for the U.S.?
Mr. Bonnie: I can give you a really short answer on that one, yes.
Senator Klobuchar: Okay, very good. Last, Ms. Bunger, thank you. Given the challenges producers, especially crop producers have faced over the last five years and the lessons we have learned from the disaster assistance, some of it ad hoc. We have had some good experiences and bad in the Midwest, but many good experiences as well. What recommendations do you have to improve crop insurance options for specialty crop growers?
Ms. Bunger: I think the best way to get the most results is to engage with stakeholders. We have seen a significant amount of interest in our whole farm revenue policy with our RMA road shows along with our micro farm. Especially with the changes we made to reduce the red tape when applying for those types of policies. We have increased the revenue limits for both of those and the RMA road shows have been very successful with getting that education out. We have seen now, probably close to 1,000 people that have listened in and have really appreciated our efforts with that. And so we are not going to try to fix anything that is broken at this point, we are going to continue our education efforts.
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