by Sam Custer, Extension Educator-Darke County
The 2018 Farm Bill, passed by Congress and signed by President Trump, now awaits implementation by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), agencies like the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Services, Risk Management Agency and many others. The passage of the farm bill authorizes funding for many of the federal programs producers utilize throughout the growing season. This bill is considered to be mostly evolutionary not revolutionary, but there are still changes that will be important to producers and agribusinesses.
The Ohio State University, the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture, the University of Kentucky and Farm Credit Mid-America hosted a Farm Bill Summit on Thursday, April 11, 2019 at the Versailles High School in Versailles, Ohio. The program featured presentations by three of the nation’s top ag policy professionals: Keith Coble from Mississippi State; Jonathan Coppess from the University of Illinois; and Patrick Westhoff from the University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.
The three keynote speakers spoke on their areas of expertise and covered the three largest agricultural titles in terms of spending within the farm bill: commodities (Patrick Westhoff), conservation (Jonathan Coppess) and crop insurance (Keith Coble).
Could not make it to the Farm Bill Summit last week? Check out the recording here: http://go.osu.edu/farmbillvideo
More detailed meetings and explanation on how to use developing tools will becoming as the rules are released.