Ron Moore, a local farmer from Roseville has served as the American Soybean Association Chairman, President, Vice President and Secretary. Moore is also a past chairman for the Illinois Soybean Association and served on the U.S. Soybean Export Council and shares one main focus right now in the agricultural sector is the 2023 Farm Bill. During the tariff war with China, there was a drop in the price of soybeans, which Moore says the government assisted American farmers in the period of low prices:
“The tariff war with China came in and the drop in the price of soybeans, the current Farm Bill did not help us out much and that is when the government came up with the Market Facilitation Program Payments and that really helped agriculture out in a period of low prices. We are trying to make sure that the administration and legislature know that we need to make some tweaks to the Farm Bill, no drastic changes, but we just need to make some tweaks and make it better for soybean farmers.”
Topics at the top of the list for soybean farmers for the 2023 Farm Bill are viable crop insurance programs and increasing the reference price for soybeans.
***Story by WRAM/WMOI Intern Elaina Allaman, edited by WMOI/WRAM Director of Communcations Kelsey Crain***