Congress is almost a year behind on passing an update to the farm bill — the major package that includes everything from crop insurance and conservation programs to nutrition. Experts say a temporary measure that extended the life of the bill last year is likely to expire at the end of this month.
Jonathan Coppess, an associate professor of agricultural policy at the University of Illinois College of Law, said it’s not surprising that the omnibus legislation, intended to be passed every five years, has been delayed; the last few versions were late, too.
“What's probably most unusual about this extension environment,” he said, “is how little Congress has done to reauthorize a farm bill in two straight years now.”
That lack of action has angered farmers. More than 300 agriculture groups wrote a letter this week, urging Congress to pass a new version of the bill by the end of 2024 at the latest. It was last updated in 2018.
The letter said failing to get the bill over the finish line "would leave thousands of family farms with no options to continue producing for this nation in 2025 and beyond."
“We’ve been pushing and pushing on a farm bill since, probably, 2022. So, here we are two years in — still nothing,” said Madison Andersen, the director of communications and policy for Colorado Wheat.
Other commodity groups that signed the letter include the Utah Pork Producers, the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, the Arizona Cotton Growers Association and the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau.
If Congress takes no action by the end of the year, some commodity prices could be dictated by decades-old policies, beginning with dairy products. While that scenario is unlikely, Coppes said farmers are still feeling anxious.
“Crop prices have really fallen over the summer now, so farmers are feeling a lot more economic stress and challenges with lower prices,” he said.
Farm groups say they want a brand-new farm bill that accounts for all that’s changed in the economy since 2018 — such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and ongoing drought. For example, Andersen said wheat farmers in Colorado want crop insurance to better reflect today’s markets and more frequent natural disasters.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
