The Farm Bill Debate Kicks Into High Gear This Week. Finally.
House Agriculture Committee Republicans released their draft Farm Bill late last week. Democrats, and many Farm Bill advocates, are not impressed. Thursday's Committee markup will be one to watch.
Republican leaders of the House Agriculture Committee released their long-overdue draft of the new Farm Bill last Friday, confirming Chair Glenn Thompson’s (R-PA) move to expand commodity payments, crop insurance, and export programs. Thompson’s draft would pay for these expanded benefits to a very small number of row-crop producers by cutting nutrition and rural development programs, as well as removing climate action sideboards from conservation cost-share payments. A House Agriculture Committee markup of the draft is scheduled for May 23rd.
At the core of Thompson’s farm bill is an increase in reference prices for commodity program crops. Reference prices are used to trigger payments to farmers who raise crops like corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, rice, sugarcane, sugarbeets, and more. Thompson’s proposed reference price increase is expected to cost $50 billion over the next decade.
"The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 is the product of extensive feedback from stakeholders and all Members of the House, and is responsive to the needs of farm country through the incorporation of hundreds of bipartisan policies,” Thompson said in a statement announcing the draft. “The release of this draft is a significant step forward in a years-long, deliberative process. The markup is one step in a greater House process, that should not be compromised by misleading arguments, false narratives, or edicts from the Senate. I look forward to engaging with colleagues on both sides of the aisle as we move to markup."
The Senate Agriculture Committee, led by Democrats, has yet to release its full draft. House Agriculture Democrats, for their part, released a list of responses rejecting the Thompson draft earlier this morning. The responses include a laundry list of organizations opposed to the Republican draft, primarily groups that fight hunger and poverty, advocate for conservation and science, and support local food and sustainable agriculture.
“We do not support a partisan Farm Bill proposal that pits funding for nutrition assistance, including SNAP benefits, and conservation funding against each other,” stated Reverand Susan Hendershot, President of Interfaith Power and Light. “Instead, we call for a Farm Bill that protects these programs, along with protecting the $20 billion allocated for climate-smart agriculture in the Inflation Reduction Act and firmly integrating it into the core of the Farm Bill with climate guardrails.”
Madeleine Foote, Healthy Communities Program Director for the League of Conservation Voters, also opposed the Thompson draft, stating: “House Agriculture Committee Chair GT Thompson caved to the demands of extreme MAGA Republicans who are not serious about working in a bipartisan way to protect our farmers, communities, and environment. The proposal from the Republican-led House would strip money from climate-smart agricultural practices and conservation programs that are already oversubscribed, even after the increased investments from Inflation Reduction Act, taking money out of the hands of farmers who want to leave a better environment and a more sustainable food system to feed our families for generations to come.”
The Farm Bill negotiation process will continue throughout this election year. The current bill expires on September 30th, 2024. Decisions made by legislators through the markup and amendment process in the Agriculture Committees and on the full floor of the House and Senate will determine who benefits most from the Farm Bill for the next five years.
To read more about the Farm Bill debate, The Cocklebur recommends the following stories:
“House unveils $1.5 trillion farm bill after long delay.” Politico.
“Critics Sharpen Complaints Over House Farm Bill." DTN/Progressive Farmer.
“With hunger, climate cuts, US House farm bill proposal faces slim Senate odds.” Reuters.
“The Debate Holding Up the Farm Bill is Simple. Solving It Isn’t.” Barn Raiser.
The Cocklebur covers rural policy and politics from a progressive point-of-view. Our work focuses on a tangled rural political reality of dishonest debate, economic and racial disparities, corporate power over our democracy, and disinformation peddled by conservative media outlets. We aim to use facts, data, and science to inform our point-of-view. We wear our complicated love/WTF relationship with rural America on our sleeve.