Where Are We Now? An Update on the 2018 Farm Bill
*This Guest Blog Post was written by Anna Berner, a Medical University of South Carolina Dietetic Intern.
If you eat, pay taxes, or care about the legislation that influences where your food comes from, then this blog post is for you! Let me help you stay up to date on one of the most important pieces of food related
legislation: The Farm Bill. The Farm Bill is responsible for decades of debate among farmers, conservationists, and anti-hunger advocates. In fact, the roots of the Farm Bill reach all the way back to one of America’s darkest times, the Great Depression. Today, the Farm Bill covers a variety of programs ranging from crop insurance for farmers to healthy food access for low-income families, from beginning farmer training to support for sustainable farming practices, the farm bill sets the stage for our food and farm systems. If the Farm Bill was to fall apart, we risk millions going hungry, farmers going bankrupt, and air and water quality would suffer. My goal is to help you better understand the history of the Farm Bill and to bring you the latest information on the October 2019 Farm Bill committee hearing.
Evolution of the Farm Bill
President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Farm Bill in 1933 as part of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which provided financial assistance to U.S. farmers during the Great Depression. This was a desperate time for many farmers and the economic freefall of the Great Depression led to a punishing drought, known as the Dust Bowl. During this time, crop prices crashed, soil blew away, and farmers lost everything. To turn things around, the government started paying farmers to stop growing so much food so that they could stabilize prices. As supply went down, the prices of goods from farmers went up, and this helped create a balanced market. The government also bought excess crops and put them in reserves so that they could help feed the hungry. To protect the soil and prevent another Dust Bowl, Congress added in a series of conservation measures. The development of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 now serves as a blueprint for today’s Farm Bill.
Today’s Farm Bill
Fast forward 86 years and the Farm Bill has turned into a huge piece of legislation. The 2018 Farm Bill alone is projected to cost $867 billion, which is about fourteen times the cost of the original Farm Bill. Today’s Farm Bill comprises many more categories than before, such as commodities, conservation, trade, nutrition, rural development, research, forestry, energy, horticulture, crop insurance, and so much more. The Farm Bill continues to grow as every five years, it expires, and new categories are added. In order to do this, several Congressional committee hearings must be held where proposals of new programs are presented, debated, and passed by Congress. Once the Farm Bill is passed, the President must sign it into law. Sometimes, it takes several rounds before everyone can agree on a compromise. Although the Farm Bill has changed throughout the years, its primary purpose is the same; to keep food prices fair for farmers and consumers, ensure an adequate food supply, and protect and sustain the country’s natural resources. Many are interested in what the future holds for the Farm Bill and if the programs formed by Congress in the current Farm Bill will actually be carried out in the next few years.
October 2019 U.S. Senate Committee Hearing
On October 17, 2019 various members of the U.S. Senate met with the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Stephen Censky, to discuss the status of the implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill. In this committee hearing, 12 senators from across the United States expressed their concerns about certain aspects of the Farm Bill, praised others, and asked a variety of questions to Secretary Censky. Some of the concerns with today’s Farm Bill and related legislation include prioritizing big agriculture over family farms; lack of staffing in local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices; relocation of the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA); the USDA’s new categorical eligibility rule for SNAP benefits; and a lack of vaccines for animal disease outbreaks. Despite the some of the concerns that were communicated during the hearing, there were many positive developments to celebrate. Some of these include the new Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) program and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program that help farmers protect their crops from increasing uncertainty caused by weather, markets, and trade disruptions; the new Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program that has provided more than 22,000 dairy farms with assistance so far; expanded rural internet service into underserved areas; improved tools to help farmers signup for conservation programs; and a new diverse range of American agriculture such as hops, greenhouse operations, and urban farms. Although, no one would agree that the Farm Bill is perfect the consensus among many is that it does its duty to support farmers, feed the hungry, and protect the environment. At the Senate hearing, a variety of popular topics related and not related to the 2018 Farm Bill were discussed which are outlined here.
HEMP! HEMP! HOORAY!
The Hemp Production Program is new to the 2018 Farm Bill. The USDA is still in the development process for this program, but they hope to issue regulations prior to the beginning of the 2020 planting season. These regulations will include specific details for both federally regulated hemp production and a process for the submission of State, and Native American tribal plans to USDA. In the recent committee hearing, Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa discussed farmers increased interest in hemp production. Many farmers are excited about the opportunity to diversify their crops through growing hemp.
SNAP Cuts Impacting Millions
The USDA’s proposal to end broad-based categorical eligibility for SNAP participants was a hot topic at the committee hearing and many Senators let off steam surrounding the issue. This new proposal would prevent 3.1 million people from receiving SNAP and would jeopardize nearly 1 million children from receiving automatic free school meals. Removal of the broad-based categorical eligibility rule was rejected by Congress in the 2018 Farm Bill by both Republican and Democratic members. Many members feel that the USDA has ignored what they voted on and are continuing with these proposals regardless. Secretary Censky explains that the reasoning behind the USDA’s proposal for these changes is due to current eligibility requirements not being enforced and administrative loopholes used to make more people eligible. He explains that the USDA has received criticism of not doing a good enough job on enforcing SNAP eligibility by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as well as the Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Crop Insurance in the Midst of Uncertainty
In the last year, tragedy has struck many farmers making it extremely difficult to get by. They have been up against unpredictable weather, unreliable markets, and trade disruptions. These troublesome weather-related events include a historically wet spring during the planning season which delayed planting throughout the country and many acres were completely prevented from being planted due to flooding. This fall as producers are trying to harvest their crops, challenges have continued, cold temperatures have threatened crops and livestock, especially in the Dakotas due to Winter Storm Aubrey. The adversity doesn’t stop there, the low commodity prices and high input costs in the marketplace have added financial risks well in excess of which farmers normally experience. Fortunately, the 2018 Farm Bill does provide important risk management tools such as the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) Program to help mediate the losses from these unpredictable events.
One of my favorite quotes is “those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it” by philosopher George Santayana. I believe that by learning about the history of our country’s food and nutrition legislation, we are able to avoid issues of the past and move forward in creating a better future. My hope is that this blog post brought to light to the importance of the Farm Bill as well as how it has grown and shaped over time. I encourage you to find a way to get involved in the legislation development process. It can be as simple as staying informed by subscribing to The Nourished Principles newsletter or following our blog or social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. You can even reach out to your local elected officials to share your comments and concerns surrounding issues that are important to you. As we move into a new year and decade, I hope to see the manifestations of the USDA’s hard work in implementing several components of the 2018 Farm Bill.