Page 8 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

USDA’s Economic Research Service said that the time period surrounding development of the
current farm bill could be described as a “string of gains, which reflected a farm sector
characterized by high crop and livestock prices, growing global demand, emerging markets for
biofuels, rising incomes/net cash flows, and favorable credit market conditions.”

Net farm income peaked in 2013 at a high of $123.3 billion. By the time President Obama
signed what had become the 2014 farm bill, net farm income was already headed for steep
declines. USDA’s Economic Research Service forecast net farm income in February for
2017 at just $62.3 billion, a little less than half the 2013 figure.

Yet, legislators were looking at their current environment. Purchases of shiny new pickup trucks
and expensive high-tech tractors were trending upward. In 2010, American farmers bought
almost 165,000 new tractors. By 2014, that number had topped 208,000 annually, according to
data collected by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. Overflowing pocketbooks on the
farm were, indeed, turning factory wheels in the city.

From a political lens, some lawmakers said farmers were making too much money and didn’t
need any more help from the government.

And many commercial farmers and ranchers weren’t terribly interested in what the government,
or more specifically, the farm bill, could do for them.

“‘Just get the government out of my way and let me farm,’ or some variation, was one of the
phrases we heard most often during those times,” noted a former farm organization leader. As a
result, many farmers and ranchers were apathetic about writing a new five-year bill.

6 www.Agri-Pulse.com