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PALMYRA, MO. -- Sen. Claire McCaskill made a stop in Palmyra Wednesday afternoon as part of her "Fighting for Our Farmers" campaign.

She spoke to a crowd of area farmers at Lowell Schachtsiek's farm about the importance of extending the proposed Farm Bill.

McCaskill says the bill passed the senate in a bipartisan basis, cutting the deficit by 23 billion dollars while also cutting food stamps.

She says the state of Missouri is in a crisis, whether or not some of its residents and lawmakers realize it.

"Sometimes, we hear lectures about how some business people need predictability and certainty. Well, no one needs that more than farmers. They need to plan next year. They have high input costs. They need to know what programs are going to be in place next year.That's why extending the Farm Bill 30 days...we've got to get this two-year Farm Bill done. And we need to make sure the crop insurance is robust and fair, that the shallow loss program survives. Those are both in the farm bill. In addition, it renews the livestock disaster assistance, which is expired," McCaskill said.

Many of the farmers at Wednesday's stop agreed the Farm Bill is their safety net.

"Farmers are going to have to make decisions for next year right now, going into the fall and not having a Farm Bill adds uncertainty. It makes your banker nervous because he doesn't know what kind of safety net there's going to be going into next year's crop. And when bankers get nervous, they don't want to make loans. And most farms rely on those bank loans to put in a crop and get it out to the end. It's going to make a lot of livestock feeders nervous because they're not going to know what the potential planted acres are for next year without a farm bill," Richard Oswald, president of the Missouri Farmer's Union said.

McCaskill says her opponent, Todd Akin, has remained on the sidelines on this issue, saying he would vote no on the Farm Bill. According to the Associated Press, Akin defended his opposition to past farm bills last week because of their expansive spending on food stamp programs.