Farmers and ranchers would like to see increased crop insurance subsidies and commodity price supports in the new farm bill, and a strong majority support cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to an exclusive Agri-Pulse producer poll.
Some 59% of the 605 farmers surveyed say cost of the SNAP program should be reduced.
Republicans on the House and Senate Ag committees have floated the idea of cutting $30 billion from projected SNAP costs, an economic model of food costs the department uses to set SNAP benefits. Republicans want to put the $30 billion into other areas of the bill, but the producers were not asked about that idea in the poll.
The poll shows strong support for the current farm bill while Congress struggles to agree on new legislation. Some 48% of those surveyed say they support the 2018 bill, while only 16% disapprove of it; the remaining 36% have no opinion.
The survey, conducted online from Dec. 14-22, includes representative samples of farmers and ranchers with at least $100,000 in gross farm income in the Midwest, South and California.
The producers were asked their opinions on a broad range of issues, including farm bill priorities and their views on cover crops, carbon markets and ag labor issues.
When asked for their top concerns on a new farm bill, the leading answer was increasing trade promotion funding for U.S. commodities, a concern supported by 51% of the survey respondents.
Some 44% of the farmers surveyed believe the next farm bill should increase crop insurance subsidies, while 41% want the legislation to increase reference prices. The Price Loss Coverage program triggers payments to farmers when the average market price for a commodity falls below its reference price.
The support for higher reference prices reflects a concern about softening commodity markets, said Bill Northey, a former Iowa agriculture secretary who served as USDA's undersecretary for farm production and conservation during the Trump administration.
“There’s a nervousness and a fix-it-before-we see-if-it’s-broken” attitude in farm country, he said.
Northey said farmers who say SNAP should be cut see that the cost “has just exploded on the feeding programs on SNAP from five years ago” and know that it accounts for more than 80% of projected farm bill spending. But he also noted that a new farm bill that cuts nutrition assistance likely would not pass.
Some 61% of the farmers surveyed identified as Republicans, versus only 10% who consider