American Farm Bureau members will be asked to reconsider the organization’s position on several issues expected to be addressed in the next farm bill when the organization begins its annual meeting in Hawaii this Sunday. According to DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton, – Farm Bureau’s present position went largely against the grain, – when the Super Committee failed to get a deal done in November.

Revenue loss is a top issue already being discussed. According to Clayton, – traditionally, farm programs help farmers with the catastrophic or ‘deep losses’ and farmers buy crop insurance to cover losses for commercial-size producers. Farm Bureau leaders argue that the federal government should help with the steep losses but producers should manage the shallow losses.

Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman says – we think that moving forward with the Systemic Risk Reduction Program is the way to go in terms of our future farm policy. Stallman says – it’s scalable, it’s a lot simpler and not as complex for administration, it has the opportunity to be consistent across all commodities.