House Ag Subcommittee Holds 2012 Farm Bill Hearing

House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Chairman Leonard Boswell (Iowa) this week held the subcommittee's first hearing to review U.S. farm safety net programs in advance of the 2012 Farm Bill. The agriculture committee has begun the process of writing the 2012 Farm Bill, holding field hearings in eight states. This subcommittee hearing was the next step in the process. The subcommittee heard from U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Jim Miller.

Boswell commented on the hearing, "I appreciated the testimony of USDA Undersecretary Jim Miller regarding safety net programs under the 2008 Farm Bill as we move forward in crafting the 2012 Farm Bill and look to improve upon the insurance mechanisms that are already in place for America's farmers and producers. As a farmer from Iowa, I understand the challenges that farmers and those in the agriculture business are facing today. One of my top priorities in the 2012 Farm Bill will be to build upon our country's current crop insurance programs so that they work for more producers in more regions of the country. Budgets are tight, but tight budgets do not mean that we jeopardize the risk management tools that we have today or put into question what improvements we must make in the future."

Written testimony provided by the many witnesses is available at http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/statements.html.