Providing A Safety Net For Producers
Providing a Safety Net for Producers — NASDA's ideas are built on the principle that the most effective agricultural policy is one that allows today's producers to manage all the risks they face in order to maximize their opportunities for profitability. U.S. farm policy should not guarantee that every farmer makes a profit; it should, however, provide all farmers and ranchers an adequate safety net and a range of tools to manage risk, in all its forms, to ensure that good producers are not put out of business due to arbitrary forces beyond their control.
A price/income safety net is a necessity for the agriculture industry in today's global competitive markets. NASDA supports efforts to increase baseline agricultural spending in order to provide a reliable and effective safety net. However, we recognize that the U.S. must balance such support with its obligation under the WTO's spending classifications.
NASDA believes that maintaining the marketing loan and countercyclical programs is necessary not only for the economic stability of domestic producers, but to demonstrate to our trading partners that the U.S. is serious about using all the tools available under the World Trade Organization (WTO) to maintain U.S. market share. Planting flexibility must also be retained that allows producers to plant crops they believe will provide the greatest return.
Despite several reform and improvement efforts, the crop insurance program has been unable to provide adequate production loss protection from natural disasters, particularly the first losses not covered by insurance. The continued need for federal ad hoc production disaster programs confirms the shortcomings of the crop insurance program. NASDA believes a permanent disaster program which complements crop insurance should be a fundamental component of the farm policy safety net.