EDGERTON, Kan. — Farmers outside the Kansas City area are embracing high yields of corn this season, as the threat of farm safety-net programs sits in limbo.
"This was a great year for corn," said Rick Miller, 35-year agriculture extension agent and Ag ambassador of the Johnson County Farm Bureau. "Prices were a bit down this year, but it was a good corn year."
Miller says Corn and Soybean yields were high for northeastern Kansas, some of the best he's seen in his tenure as an extension agent. Across Kansas yields aren't always above average, it's why programs in the farm bill are vital to farmer's survival.
"As difficult as it is for farmers to make a living off the ground from one year to another, farm bill programs create a safety net in a drought year," explained Miller. "Or that flood year, or the hail right before the wheat crop harvest. That farm provision is going to help you pay some of those bills when you may make no money that year."
The farm bill is a federal omnibus aid package, passed every five years.
The 2018 farm bill held approximately $328 billion in total federal dollars. Over 75% of that funding is spent on government nutrition programs.
In the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office predicts the farm bill could inflate to $1 trillion to match the needs of the economy.
"I honestly don’t know if I can overstate how critically important it is to farming," Miller added.
On Monday, the United States Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency issued a press release, announcing agriculture producers should expect a check through $2.1 billion in key conservation and safety net program funding. It also announced an additional $21 million is allotted for monitoring, assessment, and evaluation projects, to enhance the delivery of the Conservation Reserve Program.
Historically, this time each year, funding from these programs rolls out. Miller says funding from safety-net programs like the Conservation Reserve Program, known as CRP, is a reason a new farm bill should be passed.
"Put that in the framework of an insurance policy you did four or six years ago, does that still meet your needs today?" Miller explained. "The longer we go without looking at the economics of the farm bill… It just makes the uncertainty and sustainability of that program a challenge.”
Conservation is an important sliver of the farm bill. The Conservation Reserve Program creates incentives for farmers to try eco-friendly farming practices while taking a majority of the risk out of their wallets.
"Part of that farm bill provides some incentives for farmers who have never done this or are not sure how to do it... and get over that hump," said Miller. "Once they have tried it for two or three years, and they see the benefits of it, they will pay the full cost of that all on their own. All because they were allowed to try it up front without a lot of risk."
Miller owns a farm near Edgerton, Kansas, and partners with a farmer who runs farming operations. He and his partner purchased the land three years ago and quickly realized the soil needed some help.
"We are so privileged to have this, but unfortunately it's a farm that really hasn't been treated very well, soil fertility is really low and we have some erosion issues."
Out of his own pocket, he is modeling the farming practices of the CRP program by planting what he calls a "cocktail mix" of cover crops: ryegrass, legumes, and possibly turnips. The cover crop is planted between the row crop and killed off come planting season. The natural breakdown of the cover crop slowly adds vital nutrients back into the soil.
"When that cover crop dies, those plants go down into the ground and decompose and they very slowly add back nitrogen and phosphorus and potassium and build up your organic matter," explained Miller. "They make it easier for you to build up your fertility program in years to come"
Miller is not enrolled in the CRP program and does not benefit from its financial incentives. He says the program is widely competitive and doesn't fit into the scope of their operation.
Farm Service Agency Administrator Zach Ducheneaux issued this statement in the USDA press release:
“Conservation and safety net program payments are significant investments in preserving and protecting our valuable and vulnerable natural resources and they provide protection for producers impacted by market volatilities. These programs support voluntary land stewardship and provide agricultural producers with risk protection and production stability, keeping them in business and feeding the world.”
Kansas ranks in the top five in acreage for states enrolled in CRP, with 2,040,412 total acres reported.
Kansas State University released a publication announcing August marked the completion of the 2023/2024 marketing year for corn, grain sorghum, and soybeans. It explained prices for all farm bill-covered commodities (excluding rapeseed) fluctuated in Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC)-County Payments.
The 2018 farm bill reauthorized the ARC and PLC programs with necessary modifications in the last six years.
The ARC program is an income support program providing payments when actual crop revenue declines below a specified guarantee level, according to the Farm Service Agency (FSA).
The PLC Program provides low-income support payments when the effective price for a covered commodity falls below its effective reference price.
ARC is split into two segments, County Agriculture Risk Coverage and Individual Agriculture Risk Coverage.
Kansas State reports no PLC payments will be made in Kansas due to farm bill commodities being about the program's reference prices. Many Kansas counties will receive significant ARC-County payments.
“Between those programs, you’re hoping to recuperate at least the operating costs so you’re not going into the hole that year," Miller said. "That just makes all the difference for being able to weather the highs and lows that always happen in there.”
While these programs are a small portion of the $328 billion in the farm bill, all programs are at risk through a changing economy.
“It’s not updated. It’s not improved. It’s not made any better…That food stamp program is in the same dilemma that we are. There is no increased funding for that."
On Nov. 1, the farm bill hit its one-past expiration date. Congress has yet to sign an extension, while a professor of agriculture policy at Kansas State University told KSHB earlier this month that there are talks of negotiations during the lame-duck session approaching soon.
Farmer optimism is only going so far, as higher-ranking priorities sit atop Congressional leaders' minds.
"When will it get dealt with?" Miller questioned. "Nobody knows.”
The USDA has a buffer period until the end of the year before it runs out of money.
If Congress cannot come up with a deal, 1940s permanent law would be enacted and the government could begin controlling the market and production. This has never happened since the farm bill's inception as the Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1933.
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