The American Soybean Association (ASA) welcomes Friday’s introduction of the draft of the 2012 Farm Bill by leadership of the Senate Agriculture Committee. ASA President Steve Wellman, a soybean farmer from Syracuse, Neb., praised the commitment of the Committee to passing a Farm Bill this year, a key priority for the soybean industry:

"ASA applauds the leadership and hard work on the Farm Bill displayed by Chairwoman Stabenow, Ranking Member Roberts and the entire Senate Agriculture Committee. We encourage the Committee to complete mark-up as quickly as possible in order to facilitate completion of a balanced and effective Farm Bill as quickly as possible this year. ASA leadership is reviewing the details and implications of the 900-page chair's mark, and we will be prepared to comment further early next week. At this point, we are very pleased to see that the proposal includes a revenue-based risk management program that will complement the federal crop insurance program. We also applaud leadership’s decision not to cut crop insurance funding to achieve the Committee's deficit reduction objectives. These are among ASA's top priorities and we commend Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Roberts for supporting them in a bipartisan bill. Finally, we look forward to working with the full Committee during next week's mark-up to ensure that the final product is one that serves American soybean farmers."