Minnesota Congressman Collin Peterson says House and Senate negotiators have agreed in principle on the 2018 Farm Bill and he’s hopeful it will pass Congress and go to the president before year’s end. But Peterson questions whether “safety net” provisions in the new Farm Bill are adequate, given what farmers are facing: “I brought it up more than once, but I was told by [Senate Agriculture Committee] Chairman [Pat] Roberts and [House Agriculture Committee] Chairman [Mike] Conaway that there was no money to do anything, and so this was the best we could do.”
Peterson says the bill *does* have additional help for dairy producers. “We got a very-much-enhanced safety net for dairy farmers, especially those that have less than 250 cows. So I think it’s gonna go a long ways to saving what’s left of our dairy industry,” he says. But Peterson stresses it’s still not adequate to deal with what agriculture is facing. “Until we start having significant bankruptcies and bankers unwilling to make loans to farmers and some of the stuff that went on in the ’80s, until that happens, I don’t think the political will is gonna be there to do what needs to be done,” he says.
The 2018 Farm Bill that negotiators have tentative agreement on does *not* include work requirements for older Food Stamp recipients and those with children age six and over — something House Republicans wanted. Peterson says, “The Senate, both the Republican chairman and the Democratic ranking member, would not even consider it — and so that was out of the way a while ago.” House conservatives say most Americans support policies that encourage work and lift people out of poverty. President Trump tweeted in August that he hoped negotiators would leave the new work requirements in the bill.
More in this interview with MNN’s Bill Werner: