While lawmakers are focused on Farm Bill politics, Indiana’s producers are focused on what is needed to keep running their farms as smoothly as possible.
Among the politicizing Farm Bill efforts this year on Capitol Hill are SNAP work requirements, WIC spending cuts, CCC uses, payment limits and more. But back home across Indiana, farmers have been telling Hoosier Ag Today that the Farm Bill should be focused on the farm.
Indiana cattle producer Tim Schwab, who is based out of Franklin County, also serves as Policy Vice Chair of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). He recently outlined some of the NCBA’s priorities for the next Farm Bill.
“I think we need to keep the money in there for programs like EQIP, and that’s very important in Indiana, whether we’re building feeding pads or other projects—manure storage buildings—I think all that’s very important,” says Schwab.
“The cattle contract library, and another one that I think is very good is the funding for the foot and mouth disease bank there, in Nebraska,” he says. “I think that is so important, to keep that out of our country and have that safety net [in case of an outbreak] and I think traceability’s a very big issue, that I’m really proud to be part of that. I think that’s, just to keep us all in business.”
Schwab was a recent guest on NCBA’s Beltway Beef podcast, which you can hear below.