News

Thune-Brown bill said to improve ARC

Two Senate Agriculture Committee members say a bipartisan measure introduced Wednesday will improve the safety net potential of the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) Program.  Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) says the bill he and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) unveiled Wednesday will improve ARC.

Thune says the legislation, which the two are pushing to be included in the 2018 farm bill, modifies the ARC payment calculation.

“The thing about the ARC that many of our [South Dakota] growers like is it provides not just price protection, but revenue protection,” Thune told Farm Broadcasters this week in Washington, D.C., “so if you have production losses in tough years then it also provides some safety net protection against that.”

The bill changes ARC by using ten years of rolling average farm data instead of five years, said Thune.

“Mainly it has to do with what data you’re pulling from the past,” he said, “and obviously the five-year average is not working today.”

The Thune-Brown bill is endorsed by the National Corn Growers Association.

Thune spoke and responded to questions at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Washington Watch event Wednesday.

AUDIO: John Thune (2 min. MP3)