Farmers push for changes to legislation Crop insurance challenges, disaster relief at issue BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer WASHINGTON - Louisiana ranchers, sugar cane and soybean farmers cornered con- gresspersons and regulators last week as the Farm Bill began its legislative journey that will end on the president's desk, they hope, sometime this year. A group of Louisiana rice farmers are expected to be on Capitol Hill this week doing pretty much the same. The Farm Bill, first crafted in 1933 to help keep farmers solvent during the Great Depression, has long subsidized farmers and ranchers. But it also has im- portant implications for city dwellers, as roughly 20 % of the money it authorizes pays for nutrition programs used largely by urbanites, such as food stamps and school lunches. The legislation also author- rizes spending for conservation initiatives and a wide range of other policies. It is one of the few must-pass bills when it comes up for renewal every five years. Generally, its passage is hailed as a tri- umph that bridges other nasty gulfs cre- ated by differences between Republicans and Democrats and between rural and urban representatives. > See FARMERS, page 6AFARMERS Continued from page 1A This year, however, could prove challenging as Con- gress reflects a polarized na- tion that finds compromises increasingly difficult. It took 15 votes for Republicans, who control the U.S. House, to agree on a speaker Immigration is a possible flashpoint. Congress will have to skirt between Re- publican rhetoric that po- rous borders fuel crime and .S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, right, talks about the 2023 version of the farmers' reliance on im- the Farm Bill on Feb. 15 with Robert and Rachel Duncan, migrant workers to tend and and other Louisiana farmers. The Duncans farm soybeans pick crops. near Boyce. Federal employment re- quirements for distribut- ing food stamps - formally But if a disaster ruins crop for our region," she said. called the Supplemental Nu- quality but not quantity, Letlow plans to raise the trition Assistance Program, farmers insured under rou- crop insurance issue with or SNAP - is another is. tine price loss policies could her colleagues, she said. sue where Republicans and be left in the lurch. That's At least one potential solu- Democrats, urban and rural what happened last year to tion has already been floated. representatives come from PROVIDED PHOTOS Robert and Rachel Duncan, In its Feb. 15 report, the U.S. opposing corners. Those questions and oth- U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Start, left, congressional representative for one of the largest who farm near Boyce in ability Rapides Parish. Their soy. Office s ested r ers are big picture items on agricultural districts in the nation, meets with Jim Harper, center, president of the Louisiana bein harvest was r the crop insurance subs the congressional fight card Farm Bureau Federation, on his 9,000-acre farm near Cheneyville. He farms gain, crawfish heavy summer m for hip What will really slow things and sugar cane. that affected 30 parishes and use the savings to fund other down are attempts to work counties across four states. Hill programs. The re- out the small yet complex is- The crop, one of the most port notes to it in some years, sues, such as crop insurance, timber, most government of animal vaccines and vet. resolution. Each one is dif- expensive they ever planted "USDA's compensation to in- that are vitally important to efforts focus on energy, erinary countermeasures ferent from the one before. use of increased prices urance con ies greatly individual farmers but dif- casinos and petrochemical for avian influenza, foot-and- That's the inefficient way and would have paid for itself exceeded payments to farm- ficult to boil down into a sdo- manufacturing. Rarely do mouth and other diseases. unpredictable way to give ma- if sold at the market rate of ers." television news cameras or "If' you look at what hap- sistance," Strain said. about $15, Robert Duncan But farmers around the "We're hosting farmers on daily newspapers record the pened with African swine Meanwhile, farmers and said. Instead, the insurance country oppose that idea, Capitol Hill, and I'm hearing doings of agriculture com- fever, it devastated China's ranchers also hope the latest didn't kick in, and the beans ald Andy Brown, who han- directly from ag leaders at millers in the Legislature or pork production and a great bill will address long-stand- were graded as worth a little dles government policies for home in Richland Parish," Congress. deal of Europe's " Strain said ing problems in the crop in- less than $5 per bushel, a $10 0 Louisiana Farm Bureau Fed- said U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, Agriculture, forestry and "We have found it close on surance industry. The U.S. per bushel loss, he said. eration and who has accom- the Start Republican who is aquaculture directly gener. our shores in the Dominican Department of Agriculture The USDA looked to the panied the Louisiana farm- on the House Appropriations ate about $13 billion a year Republic and also in Puerto subsidizes about 12 million Midwest when setting up ers and ranchers in Washing- subcommittee that oversees for the state, said Louisiana Rico." privately sold crop insur- the system for selling poll- ton. Instead, Brown said the Farm Bill funding. Commissioner of Agricul Strain also wants to see ance policies that s that cover 493 cles and handling claims. focus should be on changing "I look forward to using ture and Forestry Mike changes to the disaster as- million no s. These policies how insurance policies are the information from these Strain. Those industries em- sistance program that helps protect farmers from finan- in the Midwest is different structured. critical conversations as play about 275,000 people. farmers whose crops are ses caused by market from sugar cane, soybean The crop insurance debate I partner with my former Strain, a Republican who destroyed by hurricanes, and harvests and rice farming in ning in warmer, is but one example of the colleagues on the House has served as the industry's tornadoes, excessive rain that need to be plowed un- wetter Louisiana, which is many issues that could gen- Agriculture Committee and chief regulator and spokes- and other events. Instead der because other more vuln erate conflicts that threaten work on the Agriculture Ap person since 2007, added of authorizing aid in piece- natural causes. From 2011 ing weather, added Chelsie the legislation, U.S. Sen. Bill propriations Subcommittee that about 60's of the na- meal, as Congress does now through 2021, the total cost Domingues, who with her Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, told to ensure that this legislation tion's grain flows through througha" continuing resolu of the program was about husband, Philip, farm sugar reporters recently. meets the needs of our hard- Louisiana's ports, pumping tion" process that often isn't $90 billion. cane and raise cattle in Ver- There's always tension; al- working farmers, ranchers another $196 billion complete until at least a year Subsidized crop insurance milion Parish. ways thread picking " said and foresters," added Let- the coonor after disa disaster strikes, Strain is generally a "price loss "Even with the extra risk Cassidy, adding the process low, whose Sth congressional The former Abita Springs wants millions of dollars set coverage" policy that covers that we have, we have been could "take Congress three district has 3.4 million acres veterinarian has a long listof aside and ready to go when a financial losses if the "quan- able to deliver the same kind years to cook three-minute of farmland - one of the na. "wants" in this year's Farm disaster strikes. tity" of crops is lower than of yields (as the Midwest) rice." tion's largest farm districts Bill, including funding for "If everything was in the expected. Also available for and that's what they're insur- in the House. additional research and the Farm Bill that needed to be a greater price, is an add-on ing. So, we would like to Email Mark Ballard at Though 85% of Louisiana's land conservation program. there, we wouldn't have to coverage that generally coy- better rating structure, more mbaffarde theadvocate. surface is covered with ag- Strain also would like to see have these ad hoc disaster ers crop"quality" losses affordable crop insurance com. riculture, aquaculture and Increases in the stockpiles payments by continuing