By ANN HINCH

Associate Director

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — While the debate on a new federal farm bill has been grabbing headlines in mainstream news outlets; so took have the updates about tariffs on certain food and other farm goods, and the effect on agricultural goods from uncertain trade pacts.

“The farm bill seems to have taken the back burner,” remarked Indiana Farm Bureau (INFB) President Randy Kron last week, during a lunch break with a few reporters in the Indiana State Fair Pork Tent. “We need to be careful it doesn’t stay on the back burner.”

Two years ago, he said the INFB formed a task force in anticipation of the farm bill debate, to set out its priorities for discussion with Congressional lawmakers. Maintaining a solid crop insurance program is still its top priority, though the national debate seems to be mainly about conservation funding and, particularly, the nutrition title – funding levels and potential work requirements for recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and other monies – which comprises nearly 80 percent of the farm bill’s cost.

While some parties want to uncouple the nutrition title from the farm bill, Kron said INFB does not. “There’s a lot of ties to it (for agriculture), and we favor it being together,” he explained.

Of course, tariffs and trade are not entirely separate from the farm bill; after all, there are programs in the bill that help finance efforts to establish and maintain export markets for ag goods. But putting a multiyear farm bill in place is vital to give farmers some stability to plan for a certain amount of time – and the 2014-enacted bill expires on Sept. 30.

Right now, the House and Senate have each put forth their own versions of a farm bill and they are in conference committee with lawmakers from each chamber to debate a final version, which then has to go to each chamber for another vote.

While he’s optimistic about a farm bill passing in 2018, Kron did point out that on Capitol Hill, “things can turn on a dime.”

As for trade, he said it’s down across the board for U.S. commodities right now. Usually in agriculture he noted there are at least one or two sectors doing better than others, but they all seem uniformly “down” at this time. The Indiana pork sector, which he said seemed set to expand, could pull back on those plans, while the dairy sector may see more consolidation as small dairies continue to fold.

“We’ve got to have markets” is the message INFB and its members are sending Congress and the White House. Kron said he recently had lunch with a couple ag lenders who expressed worry that some farmer-customers won’t be able to afford to renew their production loans or go forward with borrowing for previously planned expansions.

The long-term effects of President Trump’s approach to challenging some U.S. trade partners with pact renegotiations and tariffs won’t be known for a while. Kron did note it takes a long time to open trade markets, and good relationships keep them open.

“It takes minutes to destroy and years to build,” he said, adding the United States wants to be a choice trading partner – not a supplier of last resort. He noted last week’s news that China will send a delegation to the U.S. for more trade talks this month is “a glimmer of hope right now.”

Asked if he has a sense of how Indiana farmers will vote in the November midterms, Kron hedged, saying they seem mixed in their support for Trump’s policies and affiliated candidates. He thinks many have not made up their minds how to vote and will wait until closer to November.

At the state level, he said this year the INFB supported efforts to find ways to expand high-speed internet access to rural areas. This will continue into 2019, along with rural economic development and funding for vocational agriculture classes in schools. He said more definite resolutions will emerge from this weekend’s INFB Delegate Session in Hendricks County, but reorganization of local government is likely to be among them.

Kron also said INFB is trying to do a study on the uniformity – or lack thereof – of property taxes on farms statewide, and mentioned it is working with state commodity groups on that effort.

A national issue it’s trying to keep focus on is the U.S. EPA’s rewriting of the Waters of the U.S. rule. Kron said he feels like that is getting lost in the shuffle of bigger farm stories, but it’s still important to the average ag producer – as is telling their story so the non-farming public understands what they do.

“They’re trying to do the best work they can, do a good job of it” every day,” he said.