By NANCY VORIS
Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Federal farm funding was on everyone’s mind at the Indiana Farm Bureau (IFB) delegates’ annual policy session Aug. 27. Not only are budget cuts inevitable in next year’s farm bill, but the writing of the legislation and its passage through Congress is expected to be faster than usual.

“Because of the budget catastrophe in Washington, the farm bill policy has been expedited,” said IFB President Don Villwock, explaining Congress’ “Super Committee” – a 12-member group of U.S. representatives and senators responsible for finding $1.5 trillion in budget savings for the next 10 years – could have an enormous effect on the farm program.

The committee has the blessing of Congress to make the necessary budget cuts, so as they whittle on the farm bill, any reasonable recommendations may stand, streamlining the bill through the legislative process. “There are some who believe that the Super Committee might actually write the farm bill, or at least allocate the dollars, before the Christmas break,” he said. “It’s critical that we get our ideas to Washington this fall.”

Assuming there will be less money in the farm program budget, and because of the accelerated schedule, IFB delegates chose to prioritize current farm program budget areas rather than debate specific programs.

Risk management and crop insurance ranked as the top priority with delegates. This year – with its June floods, followed by summer heat and drought conditions – shows how important a viable risk management program is to farmers and their credit institutions, Villwock noted.

“Every aspect of input has gone up,” said delegate Mark Bacon, who is also District 8 director. “We are worried now if we will make our input costs. The heat has killed us this year.”

Delegates continued priorities as follows:

•Research. Delegates ranked this budget area so highly because research dollars have long been dwindling even as research has become more essential.
“As we think about trying to feed a nine billion-population planet, we’ll need to increase production by almost 70 percent. That won’t happen without research,” Villwock explained.

•Conservation. These programs are critical to a state such as Indiana that gets 40 inches of rain a year and has a lot of erodible land, he noted.
•Rural development. More than 50 percent of the farmers in Indiana have off-farm jobs, making rural development more important than ever. “Rural development would benefit us greatly – if it is done in the right areas and not in farmland – to offset property taxes,” Bacon said. “It would slow down the cost of levies.”

•Direct payments. These are no longer a high priority for Indiana farmers, Villwock said, because for most, these payments no longer constitute a significant portion of their income, and because when commodity prices are high, “That’s not where we want to be in the public’s eye.”

The delegates’ willingness to prioritize farm spending demonstrated something he’s noticed across the state, Villwock said: “Indiana farmers realize that we need to get deficit reduction as a priority, we need to get our finances in shape, we need to balance the budget and agriculture’s willing to do its fair share.

“But I think the key word is ‘fair.’ I think we’re willing to take some cuts as long as they’re fair.”

Other key policy decisions taken by the delegates include:

•Local government mergers. Reacting to recent efforts by the Indiana General Assembly and some counties to consolidate townships or city-county governments, delegates added language saying that consolidation “should occur only after the voters of incorporated and unincorporated areas have independently approved a comprehensive plan.”

•Property taxes. Delegates maintained the IFB’s stance in favor of “permanent and substantial measures to free Hoosiers from the burden of property taxes” but added language supporting the “elimination or reduction of the supplemental homestead deduction.”