The National Farmers Union is calling on Congress to increase funding for farm programs in the farm bill and pass the legislation as soon as possible. NFU Legislative Committee member John Hansen who’s President of the Nebraska Farmers Union says more federal support is needed to ensure there’s a viable safety net for farmers and ranchers.

He says ag producers have been under a severe economic strain for some time and need an effective farm program to help them.

Hansen says it’ll be a major challenge to get enough support from non ag members of Congress to vote for an adequately funded farm bill.

The NFU Board members set 14 farm bill recommendations for Congress to follow that includes changes to the farm bill’s commodity title. They want increased and robust reference prices under the Price Loss Coverage program, technical corrections to the Ag Risk Coverage program and an incentive based inventory management program.