BISMARCK — When are, and when aren’t, government bailouts appropriate? There are a few right now in agriculture that seem to be calling on Congress for a direct disaster payment due to low commodity prices, and of course in North Dakota, South Dakota and parts of Montana, the enhanced drought that we have been seeing.
However, those of us in the ag community over the past couple of farm bills have asked for enhancements to insurance in exchange for the need of ad hoc disaster payments. That’s the promise that agriculture made to those congressional folks that represent people that don’t live out on the land and make their living from the land.
It was kind of a contract of such that, in exchange for ad hoc disaster payments, we received an enhanced insurance coverage to help with those times when we have price decreases, times of drought, whenever there is a disaster, you know whether it’s just monetary or it’s a natural disaster that comes along and decreases our yield.
Is it perfect? It’s probably NOT perfect. Are insurances supposed to be out there to make people a lot of money? No. It’s supposed to keep us in business. It’s supposed to help cover those catastrophic times, and hopefully, we can make it to a better day.
In fact, as NDFB members, we have to remember one of our very first philosophical beliefs: “Individual freedom and opportunity must not be sacrificed in a quest for guaranteed security.”
That’s important. Because if we think the government is the answer to every downward situation, or every downward trend, that dependency becomes dangerous to your freedoms and your opportunities. Because, if they can give you a check, they can tell you how you will manage your business.
So keep that in mind. It may sound all good and well to ask the government for that handout, or ask the government for that disaster payment that some are calling it, but for guaranteed security, and a guaranteed outcome, what freedoms and opportunities are you willing to give up?
— Daryl Lies, president of North Dakota Farm Bureau
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