MCGA praises passage of reconciliation bill
The agriculture and tax provisions passed as part of the reconciliation package last week will have significant benefits for Minnesota’s farm families. These positive developments couldn’t come any sooner for family farmers, who have been struggling over the past year with record low profitability levels.
For nearly three years, the Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA) has advocated for federal Farm Bill policy priorities including a strengthened safety net, protect and enhance crop insurance, increase funding for export promotion, and maintain voluntary adoption of conservation practices. Although MCGA would have preferred to see improvements to the farm safety net handled through a bipartisan Farm Bill reauthorization process, the financial challenges facing farm families necessitated action.
The increase in reference prices and positive changes in crop insurance, will have a real impact on farmers’ bottom lines. MCGA led the charge on a reference price increase for corn in the safety net. We almost became a broken record in pointing out the safety net for farm families under the Farm Bill commodity title was determined based on 2012 costs of production, but the costs of production sharply increased in the last 13 years, resulting an outdated safety net for corn famers. MCGA federal advocacy work culminated in testimony from MCGA Chair Dana Allen-Tully before the House Agriculture Committee last July.
Kent Thiesse, Farm Business Analyst prepared a helpful one-pager on commodity program and crop insurance changes.
The final reconciliation bill also included other critical Farm Bill priorities such as not only fully protecting crop insurance but important enhancements that will improve farmer access, increase coverage levels and options, and ensure additional protection for young and beginning farmers. The final bill also doubled the funding available for export promotion programs that will increase market access for corn and corn products around the world. Finally, MCGA was also pleased to see the increased funding for voluntary conservation programs including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program. The Farm Bill improvements and additional funding are available until 2031.
MCGA has also been advocating for the permanent extension of several 2017 provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that were set to expire this year. The final bill makes permanent several critical elements of the federal tax code that will provide certainty to farm families. That includes the higher estate tax exemption level, 100% bonus depreciation, a permanent increase in Section 179 from $1 million to $2.5 million, and the permanent extension of the Section 199A qualified business income deduction. The legislation also increases market opportunities for family farmers through the extension of the 45Z clean fuel tax credit to 2029, ensures qualification of domestic feedstocks for credit eligibility and excludes indirect land use change penalty (ILUC) from the calculation of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions. ILUC penalties have been used to unfairly disadvantage crop-based biofuels, specifically corn ethanol.
“The Minnesota Corn Growers Association thanks President Trump and Congress for including these provisions in the legislation and looks forward to their implementation,” MCGA President Jim Kanten said. “We would also like to give a special shoutout to House Agriculture Committee Chairman GT Thompson, and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Bozeman for their efforts to include the critical improvements the Farm Bill safety net and to Minnesota Representatives Emmer, Finstad, Fischbach, and Stauber for their support.”
“We thank our partners, farmer-leaders, and members for supporting these efforts and their work on behalf of farm families.”
You can learn more about MCGA’s advocacy efforts here and join MCGA here.
