The U.S. Farm Bill

NOW THAT THE AMERICAN ELECTION HAS CONCLUDED, IT’S TIME TO FINALLY GET ON WITH THE WORLD’S MOST ALL- ENCOMPASSING, IMPORTANT PIECE OF FARM LEGISLATION, THE U.S. FARM BILL.

The 1,000-page bill, which has been in place since 1933, put US$428 billion into farming, nutrition programs, and food aid there from 2017-2022. Given the Americans’ emphasis on agricultural exports, as well as their presence on the world stage, no food and farm initiative anywhere comes close to matching its influence.

The Farm Bill covers the gambit, as underlined by the U.S. Council of State Governments. “Various stakeholders have emphasized why everyone should care about the Farm Bill,” says the council. “This legislation provides universities with funding for research on important topics, assists those impacted by natural disasters, and bolsters the ability of local communities to expand recreational and outdoor activities.”

Safety nets, risk management programs, loans, disaster assistance, and conservation programs are central to the Farm Bill, which is renewed every five years to ensure that it is current. Speculation runs high over what each new iteration of the bill will emphasize. Farmers at home and abroad closely watch its progress because of their significant implications for their own farm management. Whatever the Americans emphasize over that five-year stretch is likely trend setting and worth understanding.

But in 2023, the tragically stalled and divided U.S. federal government, entrenched in political dogma, couldn’t agree on a new bill. This was not an unprecedented turn of events; through the years, similar delays were caused by bogged-down governments. But it was particularly worrisome and dramatic this year, given how U.S. politics had become so polarized. Even with an extension, could a new bill be written by September 30, 2024, when programs supported by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, the official name of the Farm Bill, were set to expire?

Things looked up for a while. House Agriculture Committee Chairman GT Thompson managed to craft and move a bill through the bipartisan committee, a near Herculean task. He had support from the sector – 535 farm organizations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFB), sent a joint letter to Congress urging lawmakers to come together and pass the bill. Farm Bureau chief economist Roger Cryan held out hope that success was possible. “It’s not too late to imagine a new five-year farm bill coming out of this Congress,” he said, but added a warning: “It is not that hard, unfortunately, to imagine the price of inaction.”

RHETORIC WORSENS AS ELECTION NEARS

Cryan’s optimism, however, would not pan out. As the November election approached, the Senate agriculture committee dug in its heels. Rhetoric worsened and political parties became even further ensconced in their camps. The White House’s focus shifted more intently to volatile Middle East politics and the ongoing Russia invasion of Ukraine. Consumers were focused on the price for food rather than the farmers who produce it.

On the campaign trail, immigration and the economy, which are heavily influenced by agriculture, were discussed repeatedly. Yet agriculture was rarely mentioned and ultimately fell by the wayside, along with the prospect of a timely new Farm Bill, which some predicted could require as much as $1 trillion to meet the sector’s needs.

The ripple effect of failing to meet the September 30 deadline spread widely, fueled by terrible timing. The AFB gravely predicted that U.S. farm income will be nearly $40 billion lower in 2024 compared to 2023. Emerging markets and new strategic trade alliances that don’t include the U.S. have made trade prospects worse. America was losing farms at a breakneck pace, 141,000 farms in five years. It’s no wonder that Purdue University’s Ag Economy Barometer for September showed that U.S. farmer optimism hasn’t been so low since the dark days of 2016.

Administratively, numerous international programs, including the Market Access and Foreign Market Development Cooperator trade promotion programs and Food for Progress, stopped immediately. Others that ground to a halt included the Biobased Markets Program, the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels, the Specialty Crops Block Grants program, the National Organic Certification Cost-Share program, several important animal health programs, and programs for socially disadvantaged, veteran, young, and beginning farmers.

There was still more. New enrollment stopped for some critical conservation programs, including the Conservation Reserve Program, affecting agriculture’s work to meet sustainability goals. And if there is still no resolution by the New Year, Dairy Margin Coverage payments will cease.

It wasn’t a total disaster, however. Several current Farm Bill programs are not subject to renewal – they operate under permanent law without a five-year sunset date. The AFB says the most important of these programs are crop insurance programs and the primary nutrition programs – the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Emergency Food Assistance Program. Several disaster programs are also permanently authorized. That said, these programs will not have the potential improvements and updates that would accompany a new Farm Bill.

But the Bureau notes that farm safety net programs will revert back to outdated policies that threaten to disrupt markets. It called on lawmakers to provide funds to bridge the gap, which at press time, were still under consideration. But at a White House news conference in early October, seasoned Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he still wasn’t giving up. “The reality is this has got to be done before the end of the year,” he said, adding, “there’s better odds than not that we get it done.” Vilsack noted that the Republican and Democratic leaders of their respective agriculture committees, perhaps spurred on by the prospects of a total failure, were once again engaged in discussions. He called that “a good sign.”

TURNING POINT

Some, though, view the bill upheaval as a veiled blessing, one that could mark a turning point in agricultural policy. They claim the Farm Bill has been dying for years anyway, and that the U.S. needs a modernized Farm Bill that recognizes realities that didn’t exist in the 1930s when the original bill was drafted, or even six years ago when the last bill was written.

Among the proponents for change is AFB President Vincent “Zippy” Duvall. In July, with deadlines nearing, Duvall called for not only reauthorizing the bill, but for a whole makeover. “When the current Farm Bill was drafted in 2018, the agricultural landscape was drastically different,” he said. “Policy that pre-dates a global pandemic, historic inflation, skyrocketing supply costs and geopolitical uncertainty just won’t cut it today or next year.”

Added chief economist Cryan: “The 2018 Farm Bill was a good law for its time, but that time is past. And that farmers are calling for a new farm bill, and not an extension, is telling. Farmers face many difficulties this year and next, from crashing crop prices to backed up transportation systems to [the] devastating hurricane. All of these demonstrate how much farmers can suffer from a lack of the certainty and support that a new Farm Bill can provide.”

One change called for by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, an alliance of grassroots organizations that advocates for federal policy reform, was better support for local and regional food grant programs. It noted that in 2022, more than 60,000 farms sold their products to retail markets, institutions, and food hubs marketed as local and regional products, with sales valuing $14.2 billion. That’s an increase of nearly 60 per cent since the last Farm Bill. The coalition says the growth can partially be attributed to the increased reliance on local and regional food systems that followed fractured national supply chains during the Covid-19 pandemic.

So where to now? Illinois Rep. Nikki Budzinski, a Democrat and member of the House Committee on Agriculture, says the Farm Bill must prioritize support for the next generation of farmers, provide resources for rural development and invest in agricultural research. She says it should also enhance conservation programs, protect crop insurance, promote biofuels and improve food access – admirable goals for a new U.S. government now grappling with a slate of priorities into which agriculture must somehow fit.

Owen Roberts is a Canadian journalist who currently lives and works in the U.S. as a faculty member at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. •