Farmers Rally in D.C. to Support Farm Bill

New York Farm Bureau members attended the Farm Bill Now rally in Washington, DC, last week, pushing for quick action on the 2012 Farm Bill before the current bill expires at the end of September.

Already, the delay has rolled back the safety net for New York’s dairy farmers and further inaction puts critical programs in jeopardy of being underfunded or scrapped altogether.

In addition, New York Farm Bureau president Dean Norton sent a letter to each member of the New York congressional delegation asking for their support and encouraging them to put pressure on the leaders in the house to allow it to come to the floor for a vote.

The 2012 Farm Bill has already passed the Senate and came out of the House Agriculture Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support.

Failure to pass in the next few weeks will open up the door for a one-year extension of the current farm bill, which comes with many risks.