JAMESTOWN, N.D. (PRAIRIE PUBLIC/KFGO) – The president of the North Dakota Farmers Union says he hopes Congress will agree on a new farm bill soon, before the current law expires.
Mark Watne says he doesn’t want an extension of the current version of the farm program.
Watne says one of the priorities his organization has for a farm bill is strengthening the safety net for farmers.
“The support levels are just way too low. They don’t function properly when we have a disaster and a price collapse – to the point that we have to go out and do ad-hoc disasters. A farm program should never be designed so you have to come back in and try to get enhanced money. It should be designed to function when it’s needed,” Watne says.
Watne also says conservation will be a hot topic during farm bill discussions. He says the Farmers Union wants a clean environment and is concerned about climate change, but if agriculture is going to be part of a solution, it needs to be “opt-in.”
“You make a program where farmers that are willing to make the effort that stores carbon or reduces pollutants or whatever it is that the government wants to accomplish, and there’s a compensation method. It’s a carrot rather than stick method,” he says.
Watne says the crop insurance program is working but he would like to see more of an effort to reduce potential fraud.