Outlaw: Farm bill delay could cause financial crisis
Outlaw
| Joe Outlaw, the Texas A&M extension economist and co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center, has told AgWeb that if the farm bill is not passed by February, the bill could be delayed for two years and farmers could face a financial crisis. “The conservatives in Washington, at least for the time being, they are not even wanting to fund the government because they want to cut payments. So in that environment, I don’t see a lot of ad hoc disaster going out,” Outlaw told AgWeb. With a long, drawn-out fight to finish the farm bill likely, Outlaw said, farmers need to start making their voices heard. “Within two years, prices are going to be below your cost of production, unless something happens on the input side,” Outlaw said. “That means we’re not going to be making any money. We shouldn’t have to wait until there are problems, but unfortunately, the way things work in Washington these days, we tend to have to have a crisis to get things done.” |
Ag & Politics
