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By AMY DOMINELLO
Media General News Service
WASHINGTON – As he heads into planting season, farmer Kevin Matthews is worried.
Prices for the wheat he grows in Forsyth and Yadkin counties are at record highs, but he’s afraid those prices could come crashing down.
“These prices can go down just as fast as they’re up,” Matthews said. “The volatility in the market is just unreal at this time.”
And as he and other farmers put crops in the ground this spring, they are doing so without an important government safety net - the Farm Bill.
Through the Farm Bill, Congress re-sets the nation’s farm policy every five years. A Farm Bill was due to be passed last year, but Congress and President Bush have been unable to agree on a new bill.
Farmers say Congress’ inability to act is causing them some heartburn. Included in the Farm Bill is the renewal of measures that provide payments to farmers if the prices of the crops they produce fall below a certain level. Those payments are especially important when farmers – and their bankers – make financial decisions about what to plant at a time when farmers face high costs on fertilizer and fuel.
Subsidies and payments for farmers have brought criticism from taxpayer groups who believe the payments are unnecessary and costly. But farmers say they’re needed to guarantee their livelihood.
“What you run into with the lack of a Farm Bill and the high input costs and the volatility in the market is a whole lot of risk before you get a reward on this crop that’s fixin’ to go in the ground,” said Kevin Matthews, a wheat farmer near Winston-Salem, N.C.
The lack of a Farm Bill – which has been temporarily extended until April 18 – hasn’t stopped farmers from planting. Some crops - like corn, wheat and soybeans - are selling at record highs and that offers farmers some guarantee that their crops will be financially successful.
With prices high, whether a Farm Bill passes should be less of an issue than in the past, said John A. Johnson, deputy administrator for farm programs for the Farm Service Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Farmers deserve to know the country’s policies on agriculture, but they should rely on what crops are selling for rather than the Farm Bill in deciding what to plant, he said.
When approved, the Farm Bill will tweak slightly the rates of payments that farmers could receive for their crops if the prices significantly dropped, Johnson said.
“A farmer is going to be looking at the market place for their decisions,” Johnson said.
That’s what Lee Webster is doing in Vidette, Ga. The cotton farmer is turning over about half of his 300 acres to corn this year.
“We’re looking at pretty good prices on most of our row crops right now,” he said. “I’m mainly a cotton farmer but this year I’m growing corn because the price is so high.”
Still, the lack of action by Congress on the Farm Bill has hurt farmers, said Tara Smith, director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation. Farmers face many risks they can’t control, such as weather and high input prices.
“It is just one more layer of uncertainty,” she said.
Jon Huffmaster, legislative director for the Georgia Farm Bureau, said bankers who provide loans to farmers like to know just how much a farmer could potentially get for a crop. The Farm Bill locks in a guaranteed bottom line, he said.
Smith said some banks in Mississippi have stipulated in production loans that the loans can be rescinded if a farmer does not receive the same level of benefits under a new Farm Bill.
Congress and the White House are trying to negotiate a dollar amount for the entire bill – about $280 billion -- before Congress takes it up. Observers say it’s likely there will be another extension after April 18.
But, Huffmaster said, no matter what Congress and Bush do, farmers will keep planting.
“They just can’t wait for things to finalize in Washington,” he said.
Contact Amy Dominello at 202-662-7671 or adominello@mediageneral.com
Media General News Service
WASHINGTON – As he heads into planting season, farmer Kevin Matthews is worried.
Prices for the wheat he grows in Forsyth and Yadkin counties are at record highs, but he’s afraid those prices could come crashing down.
“These prices can go down just as fast as they’re up,” Matthews said. “The volatility in the market is just unreal at this time.”
And as he and other farmers put crops in the ground this spring, they are doing so without an important government safety net - the Farm Bill.
Through the Farm Bill, Congress re-sets the nation’s farm policy every five years. A Farm Bill was due to be passed last year, but Congress and President Bush have been unable to agree on a new bill.
Farmers say Congress’ inability to act is causing them some heartburn. Included in the Farm Bill is the renewal of measures that provide payments to farmers if the prices of the crops they produce fall below a certain level. Those payments are especially important when farmers – and their bankers – make financial decisions about what to plant at a time when farmers face high costs on fertilizer and fuel.
Subsidies and payments for farmers have brought criticism from taxpayer groups who believe the payments are unnecessary and costly. But farmers say they’re needed to guarantee their livelihood.
“What you run into with the lack of a Farm Bill and the high input costs and the volatility in the market is a whole lot of risk before you get a reward on this crop that’s fixin’ to go in the ground,” said Kevin Matthews, a wheat farmer near Winston-Salem, N.C.
The lack of a Farm Bill – which has been temporarily extended until April 18 – hasn’t stopped farmers from planting. Some crops - like corn, wheat and soybeans - are selling at record highs and that offers farmers some guarantee that their crops will be financially successful.
With prices high, whether a Farm Bill passes should be less of an issue than in the past, said John A. Johnson, deputy administrator for farm programs for the Farm Service Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Farmers deserve to know the country’s policies on agriculture, but they should rely on what crops are selling for rather than the Farm Bill in deciding what to plant, he said.
When approved, the Farm Bill will tweak slightly the rates of payments that farmers could receive for their crops if the prices significantly dropped, Johnson said.
“A farmer is going to be looking at the market place for their decisions,” Johnson said.
That’s what Lee Webster is doing in Vidette, Ga. The cotton farmer is turning over about half of his 300 acres to corn this year.
“We’re looking at pretty good prices on most of our row crops right now,” he said. “I’m mainly a cotton farmer but this year I’m growing corn because the price is so high.”
Still, the lack of action by Congress on the Farm Bill has hurt farmers, said Tara Smith, director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation. Farmers face many risks they can’t control, such as weather and high input prices.
“It is just one more layer of uncertainty,” she said.
Jon Huffmaster, legislative director for the Georgia Farm Bureau, said bankers who provide loans to farmers like to know just how much a farmer could potentially get for a crop. The Farm Bill locks in a guaranteed bottom line, he said.
Smith said some banks in Mississippi have stipulated in production loans that the loans can be rescinded if a farmer does not receive the same level of benefits under a new Farm Bill.
Congress and the White House are trying to negotiate a dollar amount for the entire bill – about $280 billion -- before Congress takes it up. Observers say it’s likely there will be another extension after April 18.
But, Huffmaster said, no matter what Congress and Bush do, farmers will keep planting.
“They just can’t wait for things to finalize in Washington,” he said.
Contact Amy Dominello at 202-662-7671 or adominello@mediageneral.com