INDIANAPOLIS – Crop insurance and conservation programs are the priorities of the Indiana Farm Bureau (INFB) and the American Farm Bureau Federation for the next farm bill, an official with the state organization said.

The current farm bill doesn’t expire until December 2023, but Bob White, director of national government relations for INFB, expects Congress to begin work on a new bill during the second or third quarter of this year.

Both INFB and American Farm Bureau have working groups. INFB’s task force has met three times, he said. “We’ve talked about some of the pluses and minuses of the ‘18 farm bill. Haven’t come to any great conclusions yet on either level. For the Midwest and Indiana, we want to protect crop insurance. If there’s anything we can do to tweak it, that’s fine, but the tweaks usually go to guidance. We go to USDA’s Risk Management Agency and we talk to them – can you make some changes here, can you make them there. Most of those do not need Congressional approval.”

Crop insurance, or the safety net, is Title 1 in the farm bill and conservation programs are Title 2. “Those two are the most important titles,” White noted.

He doesn’t know how climate change might be reflected in the farm bill, especially in conservation programs. “One of the things we’re going to have to watch will be in the conservation title, what’s going to occur there? Is Congress going to tweak some of those programs that are current and make them more climate friendly? Are they going to direct money to USDA, direct how to spend that money in those particular areas? Is Congress going to direct them to spend more of their money, say in one program or the other, and, ‘oh, by the way, here’s the climate issues we want you to address in those?’”

That begs the question, White said, of whether Congress will give USDA more money. The next farm bill could possibly be a trillion dollar package, he said. Typically, about 80 percent of farm bill money goes to nutrition assistance. If Congress decides to extend programs put into place during the pandemic, such as those designed to help food banks, there’s a question of where that money would come from, White added.

“Are they going to, which we hope not, rob it from Title 1 or Title 2 in order to do that?”

The 2018 farm bill was projected to cost $428 billion from 2019-2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

There’s also politics to consider, White said. With the mid-term election coming up in November, the makeup of both the House and Senate could change before a bill is written. Regarding farm insurance, legislators may look at the farm economy, see it’s in pretty good shape and keep the baseline at 2018 levels, White said.

“There’s a lot of ifs, ands and buts at this time. There’s a lot of question marks there.”

For conservation, farm bureau wants to see programs that are now voluntary remain that way.

“If you change some of those programs, don’t make them regulatory,” he stated. “As we have known in the past, agriculture works better with the carrot approach rather than the stick. Conservation-wise, we’ve done great things on the land. No-till, cover crops, all kinds of soil health improvements. With regard to climate, if you’re going to want us to change our practices, incentivize us as best you can.”

The farm bill includes other titles such as rural development, trade, credit and research.

Farm bureau would like to see more research into climate carbon-friendly practices, but White asked, “if you increase funding in the research title, where are you going to find the money?”

More research is needed on how various practices might impact carbon sequestration on different soil types, he noted. “If you do this particular farming practice in northern Indiana on different soils, it will sequester x (amount of) carbon. If you do it in the southern part of the state with different soils, or even down the road, soil types vary. So what does that all mean with regard to the amount of carbon each soil type sequesters?”