My opinion is that a Bill needs to be passed. This is a Bill that is essential to our Nation's economy and security. Keep in mind that approximately 80% of this Bill's budget is actually for the SNAP (food stamp) program.
Do I think that it is important to have some sort of a program to protect farmers? Absolutely. We have had a strong program to support agriculture in this country since the Dust Bowl years and I think it is important to provide the protection for our agriculture industry in case of another similar event.
Over the years the program has become very wasteful. I certainly think they definitely need to make sure there is a reasonable cap on what an individual/entity can receive under the farm program and they need to take steps to close loopholes that are being taken advantage of now. I know the rice and cotton farmers in the southeast wouldn't agree with me here, but I'd like to see all direct payments to farmers just go away. Most people seem to think farmers are making big bucks collecting government subsidies, but honestly, what we get through those payments is insignificant compared to the current cost of inputs and the value of the crop. I actually keep my direct payment money in a separate bank account, and plan to pay it back in income tax at the end of the year anyway. Quite honestly, I don't think that is the spirit of the program anyway to pay me X amount of money every year, whether it is a bumper crop or a drought. In my opinion, that program should be there to protect the industry in the case of disaster and
only in that case.
I think our crop insurance program is a probably a good thing. Part of the current Farm Bill includes money that goes towards insurance premiums. Some people seem to think that crop insurance is paid out by the govt, but that isn't the case. Basically, what it comes down to is I can buy insurance to cover up to 85% of my crop. The insurance program is monitored and premiums are set by the government, but it is offered by private companies. The current program basically allows a farmer to take out insurance and the government will cover somewhere between 20% - 50% of the premium depending on the level of coverage and type of insurance the farmer wishes to purchase. Quite frankly, I wouldn't mind seeing them strike everything except for the reduced insurance premium or just doing away with crop insurance in general and providing some type of aid to an area (by county, etc) if that county's yield would fall under some type of threshhold due to a weather situation.
I've never had insurance before, because by my math, I can essentially put the money that I'd spend on my insurance premium away and have a nice little fund to protect myself in the event of a bad crop year like last year. What I can't do is tap into that money and then be able to weather 2 years like that back to back, but just by doing some smart things with that "insurance premium" money, I could handle a year like last year every 8 years. The insurance program itself also has a lot of loopholes. There are a lot of farmers that don't like it and never had it just because they've been upset seeing neighbors abuse the program. Some say that in some cases, it rewards "bad" farmers or poor farm management behavior. Even despite that, a lot of farmers that have really been turned off by the expense of it and the way that others have taken advantage of it over the years are buying insurance for the first time ever this year, just because it is almost impossible to survive 2 years like last year in a row. I'm in that boat... never had insurance before, made myself about sick signing up to spend about $40 per acre on it this year.
Sorry for that long winded answer that got way out of control. Short answer... no, I guess not really. I'm going to harvest a crop this fall no matter what, and I'll be planting another crop next spring. All I know is the longer it takes Congress to figure out a plan going forward, the longer we're going to continue wasting money due to some of the inefficiencies of the old program.
Hope all goes well. 
