With rising production costs, agriculture groups are asking for more money in the farm safety net for the next farm bill. Texas A&M Agriculture and Food Policy Center Co-Director Bart Fischer says an increase in baseline funding is not an easy thing to accomplish. “The ARC and PLC programs amount to three percent of the entire farm bill, whereas the nutrition program is going to be about 84 percent of the farm bill.” If farm groups don’t ask for more money, Fischer says there’s a risk lawmakers won’t pursue it. On the flip side, agriculture received several billion dollars in ad-hoc payments in the last three years. “The safety net inside the farm bill is smaller. It’s time to get back to actually focusing on a standing safety net where we don’t have to rely on ad-hoc assistance.” Hear the story.