Sowing the seed for fresh ag policy

Last year’s attempt at a new five-year farm bill to replace the expiring policy was uprooted when the clock ran out. While I was pleased with the Senate-passed legislation, it never made its way to the President’s desk. The result was a last-minute extension of the current policy enacted in 2008 for yet another year.

While this development was far from ideal, the alternative—reverting to policy from the 1940s—was a much worse option for farmers, ranchers and consumers. The archaic policy would have been difficult for the Department of Agriculture to implement, and could have impacted producers...