by Ken Root
Listen Here: Agribusiness Matters 11-16-16
Farmers and ranchers are pushing for an early start to farm bill negotiations. AFBF chief economist Bob Young says they?ve already started discussions at the grassroots level.
“We have a working group. We have got a number of state staff that we brought in and had lengthy discussion about rural America, and what it takes to live there.”
Young says it?s important to get the farm bill talks going as quickly as possible. “I think we will have some folks try to make a push even in 2017 to talk about some provisions in farm legislation.”
Young says sustainable agriculture up and down the food chain will be an important part of farm bill discussions, “We need to make sure we are understanding what there desires are. They need to understand what our abilities are. Sustainability is a journey, not a destination.”
Young says farmers have done a good job of making their farming practices environmentally sustainable. But another important type of sustainability will be economic stability, and the farm bill plays a key role there.
