STUTTGART. Providing a financial safety net for farmers and supporting conservation efforts are goals the state’s congressional delegation says they will pursue as they work on the updated Farm Bill.

They detailed the priorities in a panel discussion on Thursday at Arkansas Rice’s annual meeting in Stuttgart.

As for what will be important for the rice industry in the Bill, Murray Miller of the office of US Representative Bruce Westerman said that Westerman will prioritize Title I and II programs.

Title I, the commodity heading of the agriculture bill, sets reference prices for major cash crops such as rice, soybeans, corn, and wheat, and includes a fixed-rate loan program that allows producers to use suitable cash crops as collateral.

Miller said Westerman will focus on the price loss program, which is called commodities, and is a safety net to protect farmers from large drops in crop prices or incomes.

Title II – the bill’s conservation title – helps farmers with conservation initiatives.

“I think improving these programs is hopefully on the radar and we’ll take a look at the reference prices … and maybe adjust them,” Miller said.

Westerman, who served for four terms, returned to the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources in January and was confirmed chairman of the committee in that legislative session.

“He has a very busy agenda…but some of his top priorities when it comes to agriculture in terms of natural resources are definitely energy and water,” Miller said, referring to the impact of last year’s drought on farmers’ costs. for energy to irrigate crops. .

The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Forestry held hearings on the farm bill last year and included a stop in Jonesboro by committee chair Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-M, and ranking committee member, Sen. John Boozeman, D-Arkansas.

“You hear a lot of comments about sustainability these days, and for Senator Buzman, the most important thing for stability and resilience is economic sustainability,” said Fitzhugh Elder, director of staff for the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee for the Republican Committee.

Elder said that economic sustainability is a necessary component of environmental sustainability; Farmers need to be able to maintain profitability and have a good safety net in place to deal effectively with climate change, which means that Title I programs and crop insurance are prioritized.

“First of all, we must provide an effective safety net with Title 1 programs and crop insurance to make sure you can work and insure yourself against the huge risk you are exposed to every year when you … plant a crop,” said Elder.

The elder said Buzman’s second priority is to support conservation programs that make sense for farmers, such as water quality and availability, drainage, soil quality and health.

“Conservation has to work for you and your resource needs,” Elder said at Thursday’s meeting. “These things cannot take a backseat to things like greenhouse gas emissions. While we agree that climate is important, we believe there are other things that also need to be properly funded.”

Joe McFarlane of US Representative Rick Crawford’s office said it will be important for the US rice industry to invest in and penetrate international emerging markets.

McFarlane said Crawford also wants to keep Title 4 of the farm bill, which covers nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other programs that help low-income Americans access affordable food, on the bill.

According to the USDA, food accounted for just over 75% of the total cost of the $428 billion farm bill passed in 2018; The Farm Bill is reviewed every five years and was first passed in 1933. Conservation programs were added in 1985.

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