Ag Observatory, via the Grand Island Independent: As the Senate prepares to take up debate on the next farm bill this month, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said funding a permanent disaster provision is a top priority. Also, the Center for Rural Affairs in Lyons issued a report Wednesday finding that the House version of the farm bill would provide larger subsidies to nation's largest farms to acquire more land at the expense of smaller operations.
Last month, the House passed its version of farm bill legislation. While the House version had a disaster provision, it did not contain a funding mechanism…
"A permanent disaster program would provide rural Americans with an assured safety net in the event of natural disasters," said Tom Buis, president of the National Farmers Union. "It would also allow USDA certainty in how the program operates, therefore making it more efficient and effective, with scarce taxpayer dollars, and more timely for producers."
Nelson said while the markup of the Senate Agriculture Committee's farm bill will come later this month, it will contain a permanent disaster provision, along with funding for it. He said he has talked with Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, about providing a funding source for a permanent disaster provision. "It should be a permanent part of the farm bill in that it recognizes that disaster is a question of where and not whether," he said.
Nelson, who has pushed for permanent disaster legislation, especially as Nebraska suffered through years of drought, said having a permanent disaster title will help Congress get that money out to qualified disaster victims in a timely fashion instead of having them wait through a lengthy process of trying to get supplemental disaster funding approved by Congress and the White House.
"We have been through that challenge in the past and sometimes it's a bigger disaster than the disaster you are trying to take care of," he said…
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