American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman wants delegates at the group’s upcoming annual meeting in Honolulu to provide clear direction on farm policy.  The delegates are expected to engage in a spirited debate on a safety net recommendation for the 2012 Farm Bill that omits any reference to direct and counter-cyclical payments.    

Instead, Stallman says they’ll be asked to endorse a catastrophic revenue loss program…

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The program currently envisioned involves taxpayers picking up most of the cost of revenue-based crop insurance policies for farmers that would cover losses of more than 30 percent.  According to the AFBF leader.

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The Systemic Risk Reduction proposal enjoys broad but not unanimous support within the nation’s largest farm organization.  Some Farm Bureau members in the southern U.S. argue that moving to revenue protection would leave them without an effective safety net.