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The climate and crop insurance intersection within the next farm bill

As farm bill discussions continue, the head of a state Farm Bureau organization says crop insurance and conservation should not be combined.  

Nebraska Farm Bureau President Mark McHargue says adequate crop insurance premiums need to remain, but “Environmental conversations are going to creep in,” he says. “We do not want any sort of environmental production practices tied to crop insurance. I think there’s going to be a push to possibly do that.”

And, he tells Brownfield, “You start thinking about carbon footprint, greenhouse gases, there are probably going to be incentives in there to do some of those practices, which are fine, but we ant to make sure they are voluntary and incentive based.”

McHargue says Nebraska Farm Bureau leaders recently lobbied the state’s congressional representatives in Washington D.C.