Above: Tom Haag, incoming vice president of the National Corn Growers Association, answers a question during a forum Aug. 4 at Farmfest in Morgan.

Written by Jonathan Eisenthal

Protecting crop insurance is job No. 1 in crafting the next U.S. Farm Bill, due in 2023, according to Collin Peterson, former chair of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. Tom Haag, incoming vice president of the National Corn Growers Association, agreed with that assessment; they were among a panel of seven farmers and farm organization leaders who spoke Wednesday at Farmfest.

“Crop insurance is one safety net that we as farmers need to have in our toolbox,” said Haag, who is also on the Minnesota Corn Growers Association board. “We in Minnesota make great use of crop insurance. For instance, this past year we had 7.7 million acres of corn covered, and that represents 96% of us producers in Minnesota. Nationally, there’s 92% participation.”

Haag and others raised concerns about proposed changes to federal tax law that will make transferring farms from parents to children more difficult and could be a real threat to the future of the family farm.

[More: View a livestream of the panel.]

Lucas Sjostrom, executive director of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association, noted that since the previous farm bill, dairy producers have gotten two different types of insurance. Throughout the pandemic, insurance has kept many dairy operators in business, he said.

Peterson argued against setting payment limits on crop insurance. “If you drive the larger producers out of the system, it will not be actuarily sound, and the insurance companies will leave the business. The system will collapse.”

He worried that current members of the House Ag Committee don’t have the experience to make any changes to crop insurance without causing damage.

“We cannot have a national, one-size-fits-all farm program,” said Kevin Paap, president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau. “You need cattlemen to set the program for cattle and peach growers to craft the program for peaches.”

He noted that Farm Bureau has 2,600 local units across the country and that local membership drives every policy in the Farm Bureau policy book. Local voices are the best to inform the ins and outs of farm policy, he said.

[More: Read additional Farmfest coverage.]

Gary Wertish, president of the Minnesota Farmers Union, was asked about farmers’ role in climate change. “We are doing a lot of things right,” he said. “Perhaps there are some practices we could do better. Any program the Farm Bill comes up with, we need practices that work for farmers, and we need to get paid for them.”

Sjostrom said the best way to accomplish greenhouse gas reduction through ag policy is to support the creation and expansion of livestock operations. Contrary to what has been said in the past, there is now more and more recognition that cattle and other animals contribute to capturing carbon in the soil profile. Peterson agreed and said combining cattle with CRP land in a working lands arrangement would be a win-win for farmers, climate change and consumers.

The most urgent call, echoed by many of the panelists, was for individual farmers to participate in the process of creating ag policy.

“Farmers, step up and let your voice be heard,” Haag said. “If you are not at the table, you are lost.”