House Agriculture Subcommittee Holds 2012 Farm Bill Hearing

House Agriculture Subcommittee Holds 2012 Farm Bill Hearing

WASHINGTON - House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Chairman Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, today held the Subcommittee's first hearing to review U.S. farm safety net programs in advance of the 2012 Farm Bill.

The Agriculture Committee has begun the process of writing the 2012 Farm Bill, holding field hearings in eight states. Today's subcommittee hearing is the next step in the process.
The Subcommittee heard from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Jim Miller.

"I appreciated the testimony of USDA Under Secretary Jim Miller regarding safety net programs under the 2008 Farm Bill as we move forward in crafting the 2012 Farm Bill and look to improve upon the insurance mechanisms that are already in place for America's farmers and producers," said Chairman Boswell. "As a farmer from Iowa - a state with over 92,000 farms and over 30 million acres in production - I understand the challenges that farmers and those in the agriculture business are facing today. One of my top priorities in the 2012 Farm Bill will be to build upon our country's current crop insurance programs so that they work for more producers in more regions of the country. Budgets are tight, but tight budgets do not mean that we jeopardize the risk management tools that we have today or put into question what improvements we must make in the future."

"It was good to have the opportunity to continue the Committee's discussion about how our current farm safety net is working and how we can improve it in the next farm bill. It was also important that members of the Subcommittee had the opportunity to ask questions about the latest draft of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement that was submitted last Friday," said Subcommittee Ranking Member Jerry Moran, R-Kansas.

Written testimony provided by the witnesses is available on the Committee website:
http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/index.html. A full transcript of the hearing will be posted on the Committee website at a later date.

Panel I

The Honorable James W. (Jim) Miller, Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.

Accompanied by:
Mr. Jonathan Coppess, Administrator, Farm Service Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington. D.C.

Mr. Bill Murphy, Administrator, Risk Management Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.

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