A senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee said Monday lawmakers are considering attaching a package of farm income support to a farm bill extension that could be enacted at the end of the year.
Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, speaking at the annual Ag Outlook Forum presented by Agri-Pulse and the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City, said he spoke to Senate Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., about the possibility of a year-end aid package last week.
“She's looking for a path forward that would deliver agricultural aid assistance to farmers in a more timely fashion than just altering the current provisions of Title One. So, I think there's hope on the horizon,” Moran said.
Moran told reporters the temporary support would take the form of direct assistance to producers being affected by the downturn in commodity markets. The aid package wouldn’t modify commodity program provisions such as reference prices.
Raising reference prices wouldn’t deliver the assistance soon enough, Moran said. Price Loss Coverage and Agricultural Risk Coverage payments typically aren’t provided to farmers until a year after they have harvested the related crop.
The goal “is to find a method by which assistance is provided currently, quickly, and that's probably not by tinkering with Title One of the current farm bill,” Moran said.
Stabenow’s staff didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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