The House Ag Committee continues to review 2018 Farm Bill programs to prepare for next farm bill.
Chairman David Scott outlined the need for mandatory spending in Energy Title programs during a hearing this morning.
“Following the creation of the Energy Title in the 2002 Farm Bill, each farm bill after that has cut mandatory spending available for the title,” he says. “Only 20 percent of the funding for Energy Title programs was mandatory in our most recent farm bill….and this is a significant problem since many of our energy title programs ultimately have not received any discretionary appropriations.”
In the next farm bill, he says “we need to consider what the needs are for our agriculture and forestry sectors as well as our rural small businesses in terms of their potential role in producing renewable energy.
