A bipartisan bill introduced this week seeks to strengthen and improve the Agriculture Risk Coverage-County Level program, which helps farmers when commodity prices fall to damaging levels.
Introduced by North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp and Iowa Republican Joni Ernst, the bill aims to strengthen the safety net program in the next farm bill to “better support farmers” and make sure farmers “get the accurate payments they deserve.” The ARC county program provides revenue loss coverage at the county level when the actual county crop revenue of a covered commodity is less than the ARC guarantee.
Senator Ernst of Iowa noted that some farmers have experienced payment discrepancies due to the program’s reliance on administrative county lines, rather than a farm’s actual physical location.
The bill, the Senators say, would Improve data used to make the payments and calculate safety net payments, so they reflect what’s owed to producers in the physical counties where their farms are located.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.