By Julie Tomascik
Editor

Congress reconvened this month with a packed agenda, including passing a modernized farm bill.

Farmers and ranchers in Texas and across the nation have made it clear that action is needed.

“Farmers and ranchers can’t wait any longer. Congress has to act now—not next year and not after another crisis,” said Laramie Adams, Texas Farm Bureau associate director of Government Affairs.

The farm bill is usually reviewed and passed every five years to keep the legislation relevant with current market and economic conditions. But Congress has yet to pass a new bill and instead authorized two separate one-year extensions of the 2018 Farm Bill.

Adams noted that since the 2018 Farm Bill was enacted, farmers and ranchers have seen increasing uncertainty due to the pandemic, record-high inflation, rising supply costs and global supply chain disruptions.

The triggers figured into the 2018 Farm Bill that provide support to farmers and ranchers when their commodity prices fall below a certain threshold have not kept up, underlining the need for a new bill.

“The world has changed a lot since the last farm bill was passed,” Adams said. “High input costs and outdated policy has rendered the commodity title ineffective. That’s why Texas Farm Bureau is advocating for an increase in reference prices for all crops through the safety net programs.”

The farm bill, however, isn’t the only issue that Congress needs to address.

“Congress also has to deal with expiring tax provisions before the end of 2025. Not to mention, there’s a number of regulatory oversight opportunities for members of Congress. They also need to figure out the budget, and the current budget only goes until March,” said Sam Kieffer, vice president of Public Policy for the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Some new faces are taking over leadership on the House and Senate Ag Committees.

“The House Ag Committee Chairman is Glen “G.T.” Thompson from Pennsylvania. He’s well-established. New ranking committee member, Angie Craig from Minnesota, is new but not inexperienced,” Kieffer said. “On the Senate side, John Boozman, from Arkansas, takes over as the committee chairman. He’s been serving as the leading Republican for a while and joining him from the other side of the aisle is Sen. Amy Klobuchar from the Democrats. Again, new to her post, not new to Congress, not new to the Ag Committee.”

Outside of the halls of Congress, there will also be a new president in the White House.

“We’ve been working with the Trump transition since Election Day, letting them know where farmers and ranchers are on policy issues and what their wants and needs might be,” Kieffer said. “As we look to the new Congress, we’ve been hitting the ground for the last several months, getting ready to focus on the tax issues, continue the conversation on the farm bill and make sure that the regulatory oversight opportunities get some attention paid to them.”