Online Calculator Lets Corn Growers Compare Farm Bill Options (9-7-07)

Growers from 10 Corn Belt states can take advantage of an online program to help them analyze the different farm bill proposals using a grower’s own “what if” scenarios.

The program, developed by The University of Illinois, will help producers compare how the Durbin-Brown bill, “The Farm Safety Net Improvement Act of 2007,” compares with other farm bill commodity title options, such as NCGA’s county-based revenue-based countercyclical program.

The University of Illinois has also added a spreadsheet to its Farm Analysis Solution Tools (F.A.S.T.) online series. The calculator will compare the following Farm Bill options:

• Durbin/Brown Senate proposal (S.1872) with a state trigger for a revenue-based countercyclical program (RCCP)
• Durbin/Brown proposal with a county trigger RCCP
• Current (2002) farm bill
• House-passed farm bill

The program includes formulas for corn, soybeans and wheat and uses data for 10 Corn Belt states:

• llinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• South Dakota

Historical data is used as the default in the Web site from 1985 -2006.  Data for 2007 -2009 uses yield trends as calculated by the Durbin/Brown proposal and pricing from Congressional Budget Office projections.

The spreadsheet is compatible with Microsoft Excel and can be downloaded at the University of Illinois’ Farmdoc Web site under the F.A.S.T. section.