The Farm Bill: How it Works

The American Farm Bureau Federation has produced a new series of webinars and launched a website to help farmers, landowners and other stakeholders better understand the provisions of the 2014 farm bill. Featured content includes videos on key commodity program and crop insurance provisions of the farm bill.

"We have distilled down a massive and complex piece of legislation-the 2014 farm bill-into several 'bite-size' pieces, with the goal of helping farmers and managers understand how it will affect their farms," said John Anderson, deputy chief economist with AFBF.

"Now that safety net and risk management tools important in crop planning are in place, along with the new program for dairies, the next step is for farmers to be able to move forward with confidence in determining the best options for their individual farms," Anderson said. "We created the farm bill video series with that goal in mind."

The webinars include a farm bill overview describing the basic provisions of the commodity title, including a description of the decisions related to program participation that will need to be made by farmers and landowners. Four other webinars go in-depth on the Price Loss Coverage and Supplemental Coverage Option, the Agricultural Risk Coverage Program, the Stacked Income Protection Program for Cotton and the Dairy Margin Protection Program.

Links to useful farm bill information from USDA, land-grant universities and other organizations also are available on the website.

Virginia Farm Bureau plans on hosting information Farm Bill meetings across the state in late summer after USDA has finalized some of the rules for the major program changes. Once those meetings have been been set, they will be announced on Plows and Politics.