AGWEB: Farm Bill Listening Session

By Michelle Rook

South Dakota Corn Growers Association President Dave Ellens told the Senators they also want crop insurance preserved, higher reference prices and updated base acres.

"Those base acres are based on data from what our grandpas used to plant and now that the corn belt has moved west and north, we need those to be reflective of what’s actually being planted out there."

While this will cost more money the Senators are pushing for updates on reference prices and base acres.

Thune adds, "I think it's more likely we’ll get something done on reference prices you know that’s expensive too. If we went to mandatory update base acres, I think you would get actually savings that you could apply but it's also incredibly controversial."