Crop insurance measure offered to Senate panel
Boozman, other Republicans, lend weight to farmer support
WASHINGTON — Republican members of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee have put forward legislation to update federal crop insurance coverage amid ongoing discussions on Capitol Hill regarding the next farm bill.
The Federal Agriculture Risk Management Enhancement and Resilience — or FARMER — Act would increase insurance premium support and require a study of coverage options in large counties. The measure’s sponsors emphasized the legislation would not require producers to choose between purchasing enhanced coverage or participating in financial assistance programs during periods of lower revenues and prices.
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., introduced the measure Tuesday with Republican colleagues on the Senate Agriculture Committee, including Sen. John Boozman, R-Rogers, the committee’s top Republican member.
The bill’s timing comes amid talks surrounding the next farm bill. Federal lawmakers were supposed to pass a new package addressing nutrition, rural development and agriculture programs last fall, replacing the 2018 law in the process. Congress, however, opted to extend the current statute through Sept. 30 as members discuss a myriad of related issues.
“To get this farm bill passed, we need more farm in the farm bill,” Hoeven told reporters. “That means we’ve got to enhance crop insurance — which is exactly what this bill does — and we have to strengthen the counter-cyclical safety net.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the next farm bill will have a baseline of $1.4 trillion over 10 years. Spending related to the farm bill’s nutrition assistance title accounts for 82% of this projection compared to 9% of estimated spending for crop insurance.
“We have to have what we call the insurance safety nets to make sure that everybody can continue to successfully farm,” Sen. Cindy HydeSmith, R-Miss., said.
The FARMER Act would increase premium support for higher levels of crop insurance coverage, which the bloc argues will improve affordability and reduce reliance on special disaster assistance.
The bill additionally changes the county-level Supplemental Coverage Option by increasing premium support for this coverage. The Risk Management Agency within the Department of Agriculture would study the Supplemental Coverage Option’s effectiveness in counties larger than 1,400 square miles.
Boozman backed the bill by citing projections surrounding “significant losses” in farm incomes. In a February analysis, Department of Agriculture economists noted a forecasted net farm income of $116.1 billion in 2024, a 27.1% decrease from 2023 when considering inflation.
“We’ve got to get these things updated,” Boozman said. “We’re interested in getting crop insurance where it works, and works better. It is the underpinning of these things.”
The measure challenges a plan from Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. Her proposal would increase more affordable options for producers, but they could not simultaneously purchase insurance and participate in federal farm safety net programs, such as those providing assistance for lower yields and decreased prices of covered commodities.
“Farmers need to be able to do both,” Hoeven said. “We see this as something as vitally important, that farmers will be able to utilize both.”
Spending for farm bill programs has been a hurdle in congressional agriculture leaders reaching a compromise on what is typically a bipartisan package. Stabenow, who will retire at the end of this Congress, has threatened to block any proposal capping funding for nutrition and climate-related programs.
Regarding his bill’s cost, the CBO provided Hoeven’s office with a preliminary price tag of $4.2 billion over 10 years.
“We can pay for that all day long and twice on Sunday,” Hoeven said. “It is the most cost-effective, big-time benefit that we could possibly have in the bill.”
Congressional Republicans are hoping to release frameworks of the next farm bill in April. Boozman previously told the Democrat-Gazette that Republicans on the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee will likely publish their plan before their Senate colleagues.
“I was hoping that at this point in the year we would be able to be talking about having a farm bill completed,” the senator said Tuesday. “The good news is everybody’s working in good faith in trying to get that done.”
The Senate and House resumed legislative business this week after a two-week recess. Both chambers face limited time to propose and pass a new farm bill before the Sept. 30 deadline. Lawmakers plan to take August and October off for Congress’ annual summer recess and campaigning before Election Day respectively.