The Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing on the farm bill Tuesday. American Soybean Association Board member Kevin Scott testified about the need for farmer choice with the ARC and PLC programs. He wants the committee to look redoing the parameters for ARC and PLC and also at using RMA yields for crop insurance reporting requirements.

Scott says crop insurance should be strengthened, as it’s an essential tool for farmers to manage risk and it’s the most valuable part of the farm safety net. He also told the committee current yield data needs to be used to calculate crop insurance payments.

Scott says while there’s been talk of less funding for farm bill programs, he doesn’t expect cuts to crop insurance.

He also testified that there needs to be additional funding for export programs like MAP and FMD.