News

Tools for managing risk a high priority

Prior to last weekend’s Purdue Agricultural Alumni Association’s Fish Fry, agricultural leaders held a panel discussion to look at the challenges ahead for the ag industry.  National Corn Growers Association Chief Executive Officer Rick Tolman said a large portion of the conversation centered on the 2012 Farm Bill.  “The big cloud hanging over farm policy right now is the deficit,” he says.  “We’re going to have much less funding available to do a farm bill and the not only puts added pressure on the commodity titles of the farm bill – but the other titles, as well.”  And that, he adds, will make the process a lot more complicated.

Tolman says cuts to the ag budget are inevitable – but the biggest concern when crafting the 2012 Farm Bill is protecting the farmer with a safety net.  Tolman tells Brownfield most people are pragmatic enough to realize the era of more generous government support to farm programs is over.  “What farmers are facing,” he says, “Is a more volatile marketplace going forward.”  Tolman says farmers are not afraid of that – but do need some protection and some tools available to them to be able to manage that risk.

Because, Tolman says, there are some things that are beyond a farmer’s control.