FARRM Bill Passes House Comittee
By: Megan Hunter
Updated: July 25, 2012
A pair of proposals have come out of the U.S. House and Senate for a new FARRM Bill.
One is being praised by southern farmers, while the other is raising concerns.
Randy Griggs, the executive director of the Alabama Peanut Producers Association, said like many others in southern agriculture, he is concerned about the Senate's version the bill.
"What the Senate did was convert everything to a revenue or insurance based program. That works well when a farm is one or two crops. Our farms in the Southeast are much more diverse," said Griggs.
Southern farmers are pushing for the House's version of the bill rather than the Senate's.
In it, farmers can choose to opt out of the revenue loss coverage plan and instead have a price protection plan.
A proposal that Griggs said is sensitive to their needs, rather than the "one size fits all style" in the Senate's proposal.
"It gives that farmer the opportunity to choose the direction that fits him and his farm best," said Griggs.
By adopting the House version of the bill, Griggs believes that Congress will ensure a safety net for farmers, who put hundreds of thousands of dollars into their farms before ever seeing a profit.
If Congress does not reach an agreement on the bill before September 30, it will revert to the bill passed in 1942 by default.
