Plains Cotton Growers CEO Kody Bessent wants people to be excited about the farm bill that’s awaiting passage. According to him, the “yeoman’s work” that’s gone into the bill over the past couple of years is going to make them proud when it’s enacted.

“I know you’ve heard a lot of unique ubiquity on farm policy and tax reform,” he told a packed room of producers and industry leaders in Lubbock. “There’s a lot going on but I’m here to tell you, I’m pumped.”

Bessent was one of five industry leaders who participated in a Farm Bill Summit panel hosted by the Southwest Council of Agribusiness. He feels strongly that a bill will get done before the end of the year.

From left, Congressman Jodey Arrington, visits with Josh Winegarner, Texas Cattle Feeders Association Government Relations director, and Kody Bessent, Plains Cotton Growers CEO at the Farm Bill Summit. (Photo by Shelley E. Huguley)

“We'll see an increase in reference prices,” Bessent said. “We'll see an increase in the marketing loan, vast enhancements to crop insurance, which we all depend upon, trade policy, you name it."

The panel bookended presentations regarding the pending new farm bill and the desperate need for it to be passed. They also discussed the struggling agricultural economy.

Joe Outlaw, co-director of the Texas A&M University Agricultural and Food Policy Center, who spoke before the panel, admitted many people refer to him as “Dr. Doom.” He talked about the rise in input costs.

“The reality is everybody’s got to make money, or nobody is here,” Outlaw said. “But what happens to input prices when commodity prices go back by a third? Did they come down a third? No. And that is why we’re sitting here today saying this farm bill has to happen with a meaningful safety net. Period.”

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Texas Corn Growers Executive Director and panelist David Gibson concurred. His group represents corn growers from the Rio Grande Valley to the Oklahoma Panhandle and northeast corner of Louisiana and Arkansas. According to him, growers are facing multiple challenges. He says they need surety now.

“We've got guys in South Texas that are getting ready to walk into their farm credits and banks. They'll be there before January 1st, before we've got a farm bill,” Gibson said. “What are they going to have to talk to their lenders about? And I know from some of my lender friends, they are going to be asked about things, and I think most of them know the answer, but they're still going to ask. So, it's a crisis point that we've got to have this farm bill happen." 

Texas Grain Sorghum Producers Executive Director Wayne Cleveland stressed the need for a better safety net.

"Crop insurance. It's huge,” he said. “If we don't have it, I don't think any of us get to be around for very long."

Related:Amidst uncertainty, producers charged to press forward

Leaders in the fight: Panelists Wayne Cleveland, Texas Grain Sorghum executive director, left, David Gibson, Texas Corn Growers executive director, and Walt Hagood, producer, Texas Farm Bureau and People's Bank board member.

Cleveland also mentioned the need for trade consistency. He noted the most robust market in the history of grain sorghum is China.

“Everybody in here cringed when I said that,” Cleveland said. “It's a premium market. It's a guarantee.”

According to him, "We don't talk about shipping or money." They talk about grain sorghum in China. He said last week that there were three separate incidents that sent the market up, sent the market down, sent it back up, and now there's no bid.

“We have got to have some consistency in trade, particularly when we’re latched onto some of these markets like China that want to buy our grain sorghum,” Cleveland said. “We want to sell it to them, but we get caught in every piece of political crossfire there is.”

Getting back up

Cotton producer Walt Hagood, who also serves as Texas Farm Bureau secretary of treasurer and a People’s Bank board member, said he’s got the same questions as the producers and lenders in the room.

“How are we going to pay out and are we going to cash flow to go again?” he asked.

Hagood talked about how he started farming in the early 80s. He recalls it was harder than anyone could have imagined. He says he is often asked how people who had nothing made it.

According to him, there are lots of answers to that question. One of the biggest ones is all the talent and good people in West Texas. He contends there may have been more agriculture talent sitting in the Lubbock conference than anywhere else.

Related:Ag economy: ‘Don’t know what I’ll be doing next year’

Glinda and Walt Hagood, Texas Farm Bureau and People's Bank board member. Walt recalled farming in the 80s and encouraged the producers in the room, "We don't give up. We don't quit." (Photo by Shelley E. Huguley)

"It's so stressful when we get down if we don't see a way to get up,” Hagood said. “And that's what I'm trying to tell you. I've been there... I didn't see how we were going to get up, and somehow, we got up. It's because we don't give up. We don’t quit."

He also looked back to the 1980s farm bill. As he recalls, the days got as dark as they could get. Yet somewhere, somehow, there was enough optimism to get a farm bill passed.

“We got ad hoc, ad hoc disaster. Those things brought us through the 80s,” he said

Hagood also recognized producer advocates, such as Steve Verett, retired PCG CEO.

“There’s so many of us that didn’t have a clue what was going on behind the scenes,” Hagood said. “And it wasn’t until I got older and began to get involved in foreign policy that I really understood how important it was.”

Producer assistance

Kelly Atkins, panelist, and USDA-Farm Service Agency state executive director, discussed the various producer assistance programs administered by his agency with about 700 employees in 163 offices. He noted there are a lot of new programs, and some old ones have been tweaked.

Atkins also praised what he considers to be a much-needed pay raise for FSA employees.

“It’s a long time coming,” he said. “We’re hoping it helps with our retention. With all the other job opportunities, we were having a hard time retaining people.”

Bart Fischer, left, and Joe Outlaw, co-directors of the Texas A&M Agricultural and Food Policy Center, field audience questions following their discussions about the struggling farm economy. "I wish before I retire, one of these days, that I could give y'all a rosy outlook," Outlaw told the group. (Photo by Shelley E. Huguley)

While the panel discussed needs and the uncertainty that’s hovering, Bessent charged the group to find opportunity.

“Find the opportunity of where we can capitalize and where we can enhance our footprint, our efforts and stand up and raise our voices,” he said. “As Bart [Fischer] and Jody [Arrington] and Outlaw said, it’s time to get aggressive. Not get mean. Be respectful, but get aggressive.”

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