DAVE’S VIEW
Greetings:
In July, several members
of the Board and senior
staff of FCS Financial
joined with others from
the Farm Credit System
for our annual “Hill
Visit” in Washington,
D.C. We spent nearly
two days preparing
for and meeting with
each of Missouri’s
congressional
David Janish, CEO
representatives and/or
their staff on agriculture
related issues. In addition, we had the opportunity to hear
from Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue and Senator
Pat Roberts, both of whom will be key parties in crafting
and hopefully passing the next Farm Bill.
Our purpose for going to Washington for these
visits is to highlight, from our perspective, the key issues,
challenges and opportunities for agriculture and rural
communities in the state of Missouri and what we believe
our elected representatives can do to assist and benefit
agriculture. Additionally, we discussed our commitment
to serve agriculture and rural communities by providing
financing and related services through all agricultural
economic cycles.
The Farm Credit System’s message on the Farm Bill
was relatively concise and clear: We support passage of a
strong Farm Bill in 2018 and communicated the following
priorities for the Farm Bill:
• Continue a strong, viable crop insurance program
that meets producer’s needs, is affordable and provides
a solid farm safety net. Crop insurance has been a
successful public-private partnership that helps maintain
the country’s safe, affordable food supply. Given the
trend in recent years of lower prices for commodities and
declining farmer net income, it is critical for policy makers
to maintain a strong farm policy that includes affordable
crop insurance. Without the risk protections provided by
crop insurance, agricultural lenders would have to tighten
underwriting standards, the consequences of which may
make it harder for farmers to plant crops and replace
capital assets ultimately affecting economic growth for
rural communities.
• Modernize Farm Service Agency guaranteed loan
levels so they reflect the costs of today’s farming operations
and help farmers survive the current commodity price
4 HEARTBEAT | FALL 2017
cycle. Despite the downturn in the agricultural economy
and decline in U.S. net farm income, Farm Credit
institutions are well capitalized and well positioned to
assist our customers in navigating this drop in net farm
incomes. However, tools like FSA guaranteed loan
programs provide Farm Credit institutions additional
flexibility to ensure we can work with customers through
an extended economic downturn. Unfortunately FSA
funding and limits have not kept pace with the increased
cost of land, equipment and production. Particularly in
the case for young and beginning producers, this increase
would help producers enter into agriculture businesses or
grow existing operations.
• Enhance efforts to rebuild rural infra