House Ag Committee Chair Collin Peterson says he’s worried the new farm bill won’t be able to provide adequate benefits to U.S. agriculture. While he admitted to those worries on Monday, he also said:
“It is what it is.”
The Hagstrom Report says Peterson first expressed those same concerns in December, just before the bill passed through Congress.
At that time, Peterson said his specific concern was that the benefits wouldn’t be generous enough for farmers during a period of low commodity prices compounded by trade conflicts.
Peterson also says bankers are telling him they are also “concerned,” but he also said agriculture is “going to have to live with it.”
While farmers were able to overcome the problem of low prices thanks to big crops, Peterson said that farmers in part of his district weren’t able to do that because of poor crops.
The House Ag Chair says he believes the new dairy provisions in the bill are “adequate.”
Peterson also discussed climate change this week, saying he would consider the issue “if anyone comes up with effective ideas.”
He also discussed biofuels policy, noting that agriculture had allied with environmentalists to write legislation on biofuels and ethanol. However, because cellulosic ethanol hasn’t taken off, environmental support for biofuels has diminished.