The debate over the next farm bill continues in high gear. Many people expect a new farm bill will be passed and signed in September or perhaps by the end of December although the talk of extending the current policy for 1 or 2 years has gotten louder lately.

Continuing our work to provide information on the farm bill discussion, new reports and presentations are now available.

NEW REPORTS (July 2007):
A Farm Bill for the Future: The Safety Net (pdf)

One of the biggest discussions in the debate over the next farm bill is the safety net for farm income. To allow farmers to adapt best to a changing future, a new safety net is needed that allows crop farmers to make production decisions based not on government payments but on what consumers want. Click here, to read Kent Olson’s discussion about the different main proposals and how they would help farmers and rural communities adjust for the future.

On July 12, 2007, Kent Olson presented an update on the farm bill discussion and his views on the changing economics of agriculture at the Summer Seminar of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. slides in color & slides in black/white (pdf)

Previous reports and information:
Kent Olson and Matt DalSanto compare current federal farm policy with major proposed alternatives and estimate the potential payments to example farmers under each of the alternatives. The ASA proposal has the highest potential payments due to its higher target prices and loan rates. The proposed USDA policy is estimated to have a slightly higher average government payment and total gross revenue compared to current policy. Lower payments under the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) proposal are due to higher than average revenues during 2002-05. The revenue insurance proposal does not create any indemnity payments in 2002-05—again due to the higher revenues in these years. The full report can be found at:
http://agecon.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/pdf_view.pl?paperid=25883&ftype=.pdf

On February 15, 2007, Kent Olson presented an overview of the USDA proposal, plus 3 other proposals, and their potential impacts on Minnesota farms at the Twin Cities Agricultural Issues Round Table at the Four Points Sheraton in Minneapolis. To view his presentation slides for "The New Farm Bill: Impacts on Minnesota Farms,” click on the first link for the color slides and the second one for a black and white version.
http://www.apec.umn.edu/faculty/kolson/2007FarmBill-c.pdf
http://www.apec.umn.edu/faculty/kolson/2007FarmBill-bw.pdf

Please return to this page as we will continue to post additional analysis, information, and pertinent links.