Lack of Farm Bill May Affect the Next Planting Season

"Farm bill or not, they are going to plant a crop, but you can't plant one with certainty unless you know what those protections are going to be."

Jimmy Wedel is a corn producer in Muleshoe and Vice President at Corn Producers Association of Texas.

He says while the farm bill expiration won't affect current crops, farmers can expect stress in January if a farm bill is still not on the table.

"When they go see their banker in January, and the banker says 'well I don't know what the farm bill is going so we don't know if we are going to give you direct payments or not. We don't know what your price support level is going to be so we can't loan you money.' It's going to become real stressful for farmers at that point."

Cotton producers, a staple in the South Plains economy, will also have to deal with consequences when they renew loans.

"Its hard to loan money when you don't have a farm bill so that's probably the biggest affect it has on producers in this area.

Doug Hlavaty is a third generation cotton farmer. He says that with the unpredictable West Texas weather, crop insurance is essential to the farm bill.

"We really need a good safety net in there and as long as they put in good crop insurance in there we will have a good safety net and that is probably what most farmer and bankers hope that's in there," said Hlavaty.

For local producers, it's not a matter of if they will get crop insurance in the farm bill, it's a matter of how much.

 "And I know both sides are pretty much going to try to keep that in there so its not a big concern that we are going to lose that. As far as how good it is or if it's improved, that will come into play," said Wedel.