Earlier this week, Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow spoke to the Michigan Farm Bureau and promised farmers that she would fight for farm subsidies and agricultural safety nets.

Over the past several months, farmers and politicians have fought over agricultural funding, with farmers hoping to preserve farm subsidies in the face of congressional austerity measures. Facing over $30 billion of agricultural spending cuts, farmers are worried about the maintenance and preservation of crucial farm safety nets.

Senator Stabenow, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has recently committed herself to protecting existing farm protection programs. In a recent farm bill hearing, Stabenow has criticized politicians who would sacrifice farm programs, particularly crop insurance.

“Crop insurance really is the main foundation of risk management and we need to strengthen that as we make changes,” Stabenow said Friday. Crop insurance is so important that in exchange for strengthening insurance programs, farmers have expressed a willingness to sacrifice direct payments, long a staple of farm subsidies. “There is not support to continue direct payments,” Stabenow said, “so we’ve got to find other options to support farmers.”

As the Senate continues to debate the farm bill, Stabenow has promised to put protecting crop insurance at the center of the federal agricultural policy.

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Written by: Justin Ellison / Farm Plus Staff Writer