Amid breathless attention on the upcoming election, one of the federal government’s most consequential duties is largely being ignored by the public.
Omnibus legislation known collectively as the farm bill expires Sept. 30 and is due for an update. The fact that the bill is up for renewal this year — in the midst of federal elections — is, in itself, a sign of congressional dysfunction. The legislation typically runs for five years and last was updated in 2018. Last year, rather than piecing together a bill that helps govern how food gets from the farm to the table for 330 million Americans, Congress simply extended the existing bill for a year.
A similar stratagem is likely this year. But we can hold out hope that negotiators from both parties will recognize the importance of the $1.5 trillion legislation and work to benefit American consumers and producers.
Origins of the farm bill can be traced to The Great Depression, when the federal government recognized the need to assist the nation’s food producers. It has grown to include 12 separate sections, touching upon subsidies for farmers, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (colloquially known as food stamps), conservation programs and more.
In May, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania and a member of the House Agriculture Committee, noted: “Across Southwest Washington, it’s getting more difficult for small, family farms to be passed down through generations — and worsening extreme weather events are only making farmers’ jobs harder. Working families are also experiencing high grocery costs that stand in the way of putting healthy food on the table.”
She added: “More than 42,000 households across our district rely on SNAP to put food on the table — and today’s bill would result in the largest cut to the program in three decades. Rural communities like mine are more likely to enroll in the program than urban areas, and 23 percent of SNAP funding benefits rural communities.”
That demonstrates the complexity of the legislation. The Republican-controlled House is seeking a version that would spend less on future food assistance for low-income families and spend more on large-scale commodity farmers. In one example, as Vox.com explained in June: “At the urging of the pork industry, congressional Republicans want to use this year’s bill to undo what little progress the U.S. has made in improving conditions for animals raised on factory farms.”
Leaders in the Democratic-controlled Senate, meanwhile, are stressing continuing levels of support for the SNAP program.
Although strident disagreements over government spending are necessary and beneficial, lawmakers must approach the issue with a sense of urgency.
Since the last farm bill was approved, the COVID-19 pandemic has created turmoil in global markets and climate change has become an even more pressing concern. The world — for farmers and for everybody else — is much different than it was in 2018. That plays a role in farm bill provisions such as crop insurance, environmental regulations and a program called Whole Farm Revenue Protection, which encourages innovation.
During a gathering of local farmers this year, Sue Marshall, who also is a Clark County councilor, said: “We’re all here to urge Congress to reauthorize the farm bill, including robust funding for the climate-smart agricultural programs. I think, as farmers, we’re among the first to see and experience impacts of climate change.”
That makes for complicated legislation. And it’s too important to ignore for another year.
