WASHINGTON — The Senate will likely spend the next three weeks debating a $969 billion agriculture bill that would do away with direct payments to farmers in favor of expanded crop insurance programs.
While the floor debate goes on, Arkansas Sens. John Boozman and Mark Pryor are looking to amend the bill to boost support for rice farmers.
“It does not adequately provide the safety net we need for rice,” Pryor said during a conference call Wednesday with reporters.
Southern rice farmers, who rely on irrigation, don’t tend to lose crop they still can lose money depending on the costs of fertilizer and fuel needed to pump the water. They can also be hurt by price changes on the global market, according to the Arkansas senators.
The crop insurance programs proposed in the legislation may work well for yield losses but don’t necessarily work well to protect against the other factors.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“They want a one-size-fits-all approach … but there are real differences in needs,” Boozman said in a telephone interview later Wednesday.
Pryor and Boozman are working with a coalition of southern senators to try to negotiate changes in the bill that will address the concerns of rice and peanut farmers.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., has taken the lead on the negotiations that are being conducted with Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who lead the Agriculture committee.
Pryor and Boozman said that there are several different approaches being proposed to address the concerns of southern farmers but as yet there is no deal.
“The challenge is to find more money for rice it has to come from somewhere else in the bill,” Pryor said.
Boozman said there is also a sense among some senators that they can rely on the House to fix the problem for southern farmers. The House Agriculture Committee, because of its strong Southern membership, is expected to write a bill more favorable to rice and peanut growers.