City Desk
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By Adam Goldstein
A hay bale rolled up on a far (Photo by Navymano via Wikimedia Commons |CC-BY-SA 4.0)
May 5, 2023
WASHINGTON — Rural bank executives and crop insurance agents testified at a Thursday Senate hearing in support of a modernized crop insurance market that helps upstart producers manage growing risks, and supports food security.
The witnesses told the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry that crop insurance represents one of the most important financial tools in the agricultural producer’s toolbox. They added that efforts to weaken it or tie it to climate provisions in the farm bill would undercut the economies of rural America that depend on it.
“I would submit that it’s the only viable risk management tool that our farmers have today,” said William Cole, chairman of the Crop Insurance Professionals Association. “It’s the underpinning of all of our rural communities, to a certain extent.”
The federal crop insurance program, contained in Title XI of the farm bill, helps make insurance coverage available to farmers from private sector insurers to mitigate potential financial consequences of adverse growing and market conditions.
The finance leaders argued that crop insurance premiums should be lowered to encourage greater participation, which would consequently decrease risk for all producers. They said that given farmers and ranchers are financially invested in the safety net, a strong crop insurance program is more economically efficient to American taxpayers than ad-hoc disaster relief.
Read more: Rural lenders, crop insurance agents push for bolstered safety net at farm bill hearing
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Unlike previous proposals, House Bill 817 doesn’t mention CoreCivic by name. But the details of the deal are identical.
By Arren Kimbel-Sannit
The House Tuesday voted to concur with Senate amendments to House Bill 817, keeping alive a roughly $8 million biennial appropriation for the Department of Corrections to contract for 120 out-of-state prison beds.
Previous language in the bill specifically set aside the money to contract with private prison company CoreCivic for 120 beds at one of its Arizona facilities, which proponents presented as a solution to crowding in the state’s prison system.
Last week, though, the Senate Finance and Claims Committee took the CoreCivic name out of the bill through a unanimous voice vote with little explanation. Critics had previously questioned whether the Legislature could write the name of a private company in statute — and moreover, whether expanding the state’s contract with CoreCivic through legislation was necessary.
Read more: Legislature approves new version of funding for CoreCivic prison transfer
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PNS - Thursday, May 4, 2023 - Congress is being asked to reverse well-meant changes to the FAFSA application process that currently limit student aid for farm families, a trio from business, the nonprofit world, and a Kentucky prison offer a creative solution for a short-handed horse industry, and spuds at an Idaho farm get regenerative agriculture treatment.
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PNS - Thursday, May 4, 2023 - Voter registration hit a 20-year high in last year s midterms, Iowa Democrats work around losing their early caucus status, and Florida Republicans vote to shield top lawmakers' travel records from the public.
