Lawmakers renew effort to update farm bill, ease ‘economic crisis' in farm country

Yahoo

13-02-2025

A farmer tills a harvested corn field in late October near Boone. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Congress has failed to reauthorize the massive piece of bipartisan legislation, known as the Farm Bill, the past two sessions. The House committee tasked with drafting the legislation began the process anew this week, with members citing a 'crisis' in the farm economy that could be alleviated with swift action.
'America's producers are the ones paying the price,' Rep. Glenn 'GT' Thompson, R-Pennsylvania, chair of the House Committee on Agriculture said to his committee members. 'We cannot let this year be a repeat of the last.'
The Farm Bill, which controls most food and farm related spending by the federal government, including crop insurance and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, was last authorized in 2018. It initially expired in 2023 but Congress extended the deadline that year and again in December when it failed to reach an agreement on the legislation.
The latest farm income report from U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts a nearly 30% increase in net farm income for 2025, which would be a welcome sight for many farmers after two years of declining net farm income. The increase, however mostly reflects the more than $30 billion in a disaster aid allocated by Congress at the end of 2024.
Ad hoc payments like this have been propping up farmers in lieu of an updated farm bill that could adjust crop insurance rates, labor costs and expand crop markets.
John Newton, the executive head at Terrain, a group that analyzes agricultural economic issues for farm credit associations, appeared before the House Committee on Agriculture as a witness Tuesday and spoke to the 'historic volatility' in the farm economy over the past several years.
Newton said farmers want a farm bill that accounts for some of the 'unprecedented' economic challenges they face, rather than the ad hoc bailouts Congress has authorized to make ends meet.
'These economic assistance payments offset only a portion of a farmer's negative margins and are only a bridge until a new five-year farm bill can be authorized by Congress,' Newton said.
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Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, said the disaster assistance farmers in Iowa, and other parts of the country, received at the end of 2024 helped farmers 'get back on their feet' but is not the solution.
'It's been seven years since Congress passed a Farm Bill,' Nunn said. 'Seven years since our farm safety net was updated … We have to have a long-term strategy here to address America's food security that starts right here in the United States.'
Ryan Talley, a fruit and vegetable farmer from California and representative of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, said input costs are rising at an 'alarming rate,' with labor comprising half of his production costs.
Talley said in 2016 the H-2A visa program, which allows farms to hire temporary farm workers from other countries, saved his farm during a labor shortage.
But he said the cost for that labor has increased nearly 40% since then and the 'escalating wages' could 'spell the demise' of his farm.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, H-2A wages ranged from $15 to $22 per hour, depending on the state, in 2024. USDA projections for 2025 predict farm labor cost will continue to increase to 'a record high' of more than $53 billion across U.S. farm sectors.
Talley asked lawmakers to include assistance for mechanical advancements to enhance the human labor on specialty crop farms.
Talley also advocated for changes to the crop insurance program to provide specialty crop growers 'with a functional safety net for the very first time.'
'The dietary guidelines for Americans recommend that fruits and vegetables should comprise at least half of Americans' diet,' Talley said. 'Yet under current law, specialty crops receive a small fraction of their proportional share of the Farm Bill resources.'
Rodney Weinzierl, an Illinois row crop farmer and executive director of Illinois Corn Growers Association, said the lack of demand for corn and soybeans in particular is driving the downturn.
USDA data for crop cash receipts show a more than $12 billion decrease for corn and about $9 billion decrease for soybeans from 2023 to 2024 and project continued declines for the crops in 2025.
Weinzierl said more demand for biofuels in the U.S. would 'drastically impact the profitability' of row crop farmers. This is something Iowa farm commodity and renewable fuel groups have also urged Congress to facilitate through the year round sale of E15, a fuel blend with a higher percentage of ethanol.
Panelists noted input costs like seed, fertilizer and machinery have increased substantially in recent years and stayed high.
USDA data shows nominal farm production expenses have risen sharply since 2020, but fertilizer and pesticide expenses have been declining in price since 2022 and are expected to follow the same trend in 2025.
Seed, labor and poultry and livestock purchase expenses, however, are expected to rise again in 2025.
Last year, House Republicans pushed for additional work requirements for the SNAP eligibility, a program which makes up a significant portion of the Farm Bill, and are expected to push for a similar policy this year.
Politico reporting from Wednesday on the House Republican's budget plans revealed GOP lawmakers want the ag committee to cut $230 billion from its programs. The reporting said the food assistance program would be a target.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report Wednesday that found the USDA violated its reporting obligations for the SNAP program in October 2023.
Kailee Buller, chief of staff of USDA, said the former administration put 'politics over commonsense' in the change of practice.
'The Trump Administration will immediately correct this egregious action, making certain material weaknesses like this do not happen again.'
Thompson called the action an 'abuse of taxpayer resources.'
'We will not let this go unchecked—we will ensure accountability and put an end to these partisan budget games,' Thomson said in a press release with the House Committee on Agriculture.
Ranking member of the committee Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat from Minnesota, said Tuesday she was concerned by discussions from the Trump administration to make cuts to the SNAP program.
'I believe this new administration's early actions are implementing early policies that could potentially hurt our family farmers and ranchers,' Craig said.
Craig said she was also concerned by the president's reductions to the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, which she said is a $2 billion market for U.S. farmers who grow food for the program.
Alisha Schwertner, a farmer and rancher from Texas, spoke to the committee and said her farm, like many others, 'will not endure' the current economic conditions.
'We risk losing everything that we and past generations have worked so hard for,' Schwertner said. 'This includes the ability to pass on our legacy and profession to the next generation.'
Rep. Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Iowa, said he's also concerned for the next generation of farmers, and wanted to repeal the 'death tax' or the federal tax on inherited property.
Feenstra called the 40% tax on the transfer of land 'ridiculous' and why he wants to repeal the tax with a bill that 'has got to get done.'
Feenstra said the farm bill presents a 'great opportunity' to change the trajectory of what's happening in farm country.
President Donald Trump's freeze on funding related to the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act left farmers 'on the hook' for millions of dollars they had been previously promised, according to a Washington Post article from Monday.
Ranking member of the committee Rep. Angie Craig, a Democrat from Minnesota, said she was concerned for the impact the freezes would have on farmers and 'good programs' with USDA.
Schwertner said she has money tied up with USDA currently, but has 'never not been paid' for the programs she has participated in.
'I'm confident that President Trump — he's said that he would take care of farmers and ranchers, and he's held true to that promise in the past, and I'm certain that we will get paid regardless of the current freeze,' Schwertner said.
Last week, President Trump imposed a 25% tariff on inputs from Canada and Mexico. Representatives asked about the impact this would have on potash, a potassium fertilizer. The U.S. imports 80% of the potash it uses from Canada.
Weinzierl, said if these tariffs, which have been temporarily paused, go into effect, it likely wouldn't affect farmers this crop season as they would have already applied potash in the fall, or have it stocked for spring application.
Rep. Josh Riley, D-New York, said he would lead a letter to the Trump administration, urging them to exclude potash from any tariffs imposed on Canada, and invited fellow committee members to join him on the effort.
Representatives from northern states and regions like Oregon and California that grow large quantities of specialty crops were concerned for what a trade war with Canada would mean for their farm families.
'Getting into a tariff and trade war, it could possibly decimate our agricultural community, specifically in California,' Talley said, noting the short shelf life of many specialty crop products.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, said the effects of the current administration have exacerbated the decline of the rural economy and he critiqued his Republican colleagues for standing by the actions of the president toward the ag industry.
'Tariffs against our closest allies and ag trading partners, gutting science programs while bird flu rips through poultry and livestock, freezing money that has been promised to farmers for ongoing projects … these things are not America first,' McGovern said. 'These are policies of people who do not care about rural America at all.'
Rep. Mike Bost from Illinois said the problems with agriculture span much longer than the past three weeks. The Republican congressman said ag trade deals 'have not been good.'
'I would hope that this committee would back away from the partisanship and actually come together, pass this farm bill and realize that trade – we should hold accountable those countries we're dealing with and get our trade deals right,' Bost said.
Thompson said the committee needs to get a farm bill together 'sooner than later.'
'If we wait until the end of this year to do a five year farm bill, we will be back asking Congress for more economic disaster assistance.'
The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, held a similar committee hearing Feb. 5 focused on the agriculture economy.
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