The bipartisan farm bill ‘is one of the last exercises of good governance’

Despite tight margins in a divided Congress, the House Committee on Agriculture is continuing to draft a bipartisan farm bill. Its biggest challenge? Time. 

“There was an extension — and often there are extensions with many of the farm bills,” says Joshua Maxwell, policy director for the Republican Leader of the House Committee on Agriculture, G.T. Thompson, R-Pa. “One of the reasons for that is because the farm bill is one of the last exercises of good governance.”

Thompson took over as chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture in 2023 and had to start the process from scratch, taking part in hearings in Washington, D.C. and across the country. Maxwell says Thompson is adamant there will be a committee markup on the farm bill this spring.

Assembling a modern farm bill

Mike Schmidt, senior advisor at the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry under Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., says the committees are focusing on commodity title and crop insurance, as well as the research title, in addition to the rest of the pieces of the farm bill, and are making good progress. 

Schmidt says Stabenow has some key principles for what she would see as successful opportunities in the farm bill:

• Targeting active farmers: Homing in on farmers operating the land, and making sure the bill’s limited resources are allocated to the farmers in need.
• Providing farmers flexibility: The committee has found success in previous farm bills by allowing farmers to tailor the different safety nets to their needs. 
• Timely assistance: Farmers don’t just need the proper amount of assistance, but also need it in a timely manner. When disaster strikes, farmers can’t wait two years for assistance, and may take on credit in the interim. 
• Serving all crops: The farm bill needs to not just cover row crop farmers, but have equitable assistance available to farmers growing specialty crops as well. 
• Modernizing assistance: With unexpected factors like the COVID-19 pandemic and spikes in input prices, Stabenow is looking at tweaking and modifying tools included in the farm bill to meet these new risks.  

Cost of production has dramatically increased in recent years — projected for $450 billion this year — due to increased interest rates and input costs, and farm income below the 20 year average, says Fitzhugh Elder, staff director for the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry under Senator John Boozman (R-AR).

“We need to update risk management tools like crop insurance — we think crop insurance needs to be more affordable and more accessible,” says Elder. “Our top priorities in the farm bill are reinforcing that safety net in a meaningful way. We believe that can be done within a $1.5 trillion farm bill in a way that benefits producers and makes other key investments.”

Elder says the U.S. needs to invest in its land grant system for research as the country falls behind China and Brazil, in trade programs, and in rural development. 

“Everyone who lives in rural communities knows the challenges [to accessing] rural healthcare and childcare, and you need support. We want to provide those investments,” says Elder.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed by President Biden’s administration in 2022, provided an additional $19.5 billion over five years for climate-smart agriculture through several Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) conservation programs. Elder says this money should be brought into the farm bill to provide a permanent baseline for conservation programs. 

Funding the farm bill

The farm bill is projected to cost $1.5 trillion, and Chairman Thompson has identified an additional $75 billion in potential needs. Thompson plans to find offsets to pay for these new investments within the existing framework without adding to the cost. 

The 12 Titles under the farm bill are going to need an additional $75 billion to $100 billion over ten years to fund those priorities, says Maxwell. 

“All the Titles across the farm bill that received mandatory dollars — conservation, nutrition, and energy — have seen exponential growth over the years,” says Maxwell. “However, over the last two decades, we've seen a significant decline in the spending power of the Title One safety net programs — 70% if you look at that with inflation.” 

Congress has provided ad hoc monetary assistance since the last farm bill, but that doesn’t provide certainty to producers, or accountability to the taxpayer, according to Maxwell. He says the committee is looking to increase the spending power of the IRA funds from a one-time transfusion and put that into other bipartisan priorities in the bill. 

Roadblocks

While the farm bill is worked on as a bipartisan effort, with agreements and compromises made from both parties, there are some key points that still need to be worked out. 

“The point of contention is going to be where to put [the IRA] money,” says Clark Ogilvie, special counsel for the Agriculture Committee under Congressman David Scott, D-Ga. “Our members say all those dollars should be used for the purpose they were created: climate-smart practices.” 

Republicans and Democrats have fundamentally different perspectives toward SNAP funding and its benefits like the Thrifty Food Plan, says Ogilvie. The Thrifty Food Plan helps SNAP adapt to changing nutrition standards, helping people on the program eat healthier. He says Republicans want to make the budget neutral so it doesn’t cost additional money. 

“This makes SNAP so challenging because [Democrats] see it as a benefit cut,” says Ogilvie. “We saw it happen with the 2014 and 2018 farm bills — no Democrat voted for it on the House floor because of the changes to SNAP that they couldn’t accept.”

An update on base acres is also being considered in the farm bill. USDA calculates price loss coverage (PLC) and agriculture risk coverage (ARC) programs based on a farm’s enrolled base acres and payment yields. These are transferred to the new owner when associated land is sold. Republican members like Fitzhugh Elder are cautious about reassessing base acres due to the potential to cause division. 

“When you look at the county level data — and the federal government says you have to update your base — you're going to have farmer versus farmer, or commodities versus commodities being winners and losers in the same county,” says Elder. “You're really not going to save much money.”

Elder concedes there are challenges posed to base acres for new and beginning farmers that don’t already have base acres, preventing them from accessing safety net programs. There are many things to take into consideration when advocating for this issue, and he encourages farmers to explore the details and what they mean for their farm.

Maxwell says Chairman Thompson’s goal is not not pick winners and losers, but to find opportunity within the budget constraints to make sure new farmers have ability to achieve base acres.  

Comparison to past farm bills

The current farm bill marks Clark Ogilvie’s fifth, and in the 20 years he’s witnessed commonalities in debates around financing, allocation, nutrition, and farm safety nets. What’s changed, he says, is the committee’s level of control.

“I've been in Congress for many years, and you have workhorses and show horses in both parties,” says Ogilvie. “Because of the tight margins, the show horses have a lot of leverage over the workhorses. People like G.T. Thompson are trying to get work done. Show horses have their own agendas — whether it’s to get more Twitter followers or on the news program — and more and more they're interfering.” 

In addition to these interferences, further delays to the farm bill were incurred while selecting Mike Johnson, R-La., as Speaker of the House following Kevin McCarthy’s lengthy and historical ousting from the role during a legislative session.

What can farmers do?

Elder encourages farmers to build relationships with elected representatives and local commodity groups. 

“In addition to raising crops and livestock, being engaged in congress is critical to your livelihood,” says Elder. “This is important as any farm management decision you make. You have to be engaged in the process and have your voice heard so we make sure we can respect your will when we put together policy.”

Ogilvie says to not just talk to your home representatives, but also to reach out to urban and suburban representatives who don’t have an agricultural background. 

“You need to tell them your story to make sure they understand why a farm is important, and how the farm bill works,” says Ogilvie. “You are your own best advocate. It's easier to go to people who already agree with you than it is to challenge people who don’t, and educate them on what's going on.”