Senator Sherrod Brown with his wife, Pulitzer Prize winner Connie Schultz. Photo source: In These Times
A little over a year ago, Sherrod Brown defeated long-time incumbent Republican Mike DeWine to win the Ohio U.S. Senate race. During his campaign, Brown brought considerable attention to the diminishing fortunes of middle class families. He did this while most of the nation seemed focused on the War in Iraq. Last week Brown spearheaded an effort to cut some juicy pork out of the Farm Bill.
The USDA pays billions of dollars to the private crop insurance industry to help farmers fill out forms and qualify for federal aid when crops are damaged, for example, by disease, freeze, flood, or drought. Senator Brown discovered that during a time when the USDA paid out $10.5 Billion in aid to farmers, it paid $19 Billion out to the crop insurance companies. Perhaps the worst part of the current law ties the insurance agents’ fees to crop prices, which have recently soared.
The Farm Bill amendment introduced by Brown and cosponsored by Senator John Sununu (R-NH) would have cut the fees paid to crop insurance agents with the savings going to support conservation and nutritional programs. Unfortunately, it never had a chance. A summary of the amendment by Environmental Defense follows:
RESCU (Reduction of Excess Subsidies to Crop Underwriters) Amendment
Offered by Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and John Sununu (R-NH): This amendment reforms the administrative costs and company subsidies that currently consume more than 40 cents of every dollar taxpayers put into crop insurance. It reduces agent fees, which have skyrocketed because fees are tied to rising crop prices even though agent workload remains the same. It requires companies to share profits and loss with the government at a greater level than currently required to rebalance a system that has subsidized record profits to the industry. Savings are invested in nutrition programs and conservation programs that help farmers.
Crop insurance agents are typically woven into the close-knit farm community fabric. Drive around the countryside and you’ll probably see signs for crop insurance agents in front of farmhouses, or in front of little offices in town. Our village president sells crop insurance. Many agents are former farmers, part time farmers, or friends and or family of farmers. Farm organizations fought the Brown-Sununu amendment and it was easily defeated.
The Senate version of the Farm Bill has to be reconsiled with the House version and the final bill may face a presidential veto. Times are changing for growers. They’re getting paid much better for their crops and the old rock-solid USDA policy of subsidizing farmers to ensure cheap, abundant food for the rest of us is looking pretty antiquated.
Ohio is a big agriculture state and Brown has political guts to introduce a bill bound to be unpopular in rural communities. Time will tell whether rural voters in Ohio and elsewhere will have enough pull to keep the old subsidized Big-Ag gravy train rolling down the track.
Tags: agriculture, Congress, Connie Schultz, Crop Insurance, Farm Bill, Insurance Companies, Insurance Regulation, Sherrod Brown