President Biden came to a farm in Kankakee on Wednesday to announce a plan to provide protection for farmers double cropping and increase fertilizer supplies. He is looking to double funding for domestic fertilizer production from $250-million to $500-million.
“We’re going to see what action we can take to increase fertilizer supplies globally and identify how we can work together to prevent export restrictions on food and agricultural inputs and bring more global production to market which will stabilize prices and bring more certainty to our farmers and keep people from dying from hunger.”
Biden is also looking at increasing the number of counties eligible for double cropping insurance.
“Double cropping comes with some real risks. The growing season for wheat is short and if the weather conditions are not ideal or at least good or there are other disruptions then the timing is thrown off. But it is a risk we need to take. That is why my administration is looking to extend crop insurance coverage to give financial assistance to farmers who practice double cropping.”
And the president says his administration is increasing technical assistance for technology-driven precision agriculture.
Jeff O’Connor, the owner of the Illinois farm, said the changes will allow U.S. farmers to “step up at a very critical time.”
“The farming community stands ready to maximize production, which we do so well, in this time of world need,” O’Connor said as he introduced Biden.
