Santa may have parked the sleigh for another year, but there are many wish lists still being worked on in the agriculture industry. As we get ready for the new year of 2024, there are many things we need to prepare for and topics that need to be discussed. Producers of all types need to know that the future of their products is strong, and that policy is going to be in place to keep them secure to grow the bounty of the land.
Winter is the meeting and policy season and that is when farmer members of several organizations get together to set their policy goals for the coming year. The American Soybean Association (ASA) is no different. Josh Gackle is the ASA Vice President and a soybean producer from North Dakota. We started off talking about the 1-year Farm Bill extension and the priorities ASA still has for the full 5-year bill that now has a nine-month completion window. That is already a tall order in the current DC climate, not to mention it is a Presidential Election year, which means we can effectively see nothing happening after the August Recess because a large chunk of Congress will be back home campaigning.
When it comes to needs in the Farm Bill, Gackle highlighted shortcomings in the Title 1 ARC/PLC programs that need to be looked at, as to why they did not kick in when they should have. Also, the need for crop insurance programs to be available and updated.
We will talk further with Josh Gackle tomorrow. Where we look at things like trade policy for the ASA.
