Ag groups celebrate the Farm Bill’s passage

Dec 13, 2018

The bill now needs President Trump’s signature to become law

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The American ag community is happy that the 2018 Farm Bill is President Trump’s signature away from becoming law.

Yesterday, the House voted 369 to 47 in favor of the five-year, US$867 billion bill. The legislation had already passed in the Senate by a vote of 87 to 13 on Tuesday.

“Passage means we are one signature away from renewal of risk management tools, foreign market development and environmental stewardship programs that farmers and ranchers need to survive a prolonged and painful downturn in farm income and be sustainable,” Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said in a statement yesterday.

Producer groups are also pleased with the bill’s contents.

The titles in the Farm Bill will help farmers overcome challenges like low commodity prices and trade uncertainty.

“NCGA is most pleased to see the bill maintains support for a robust crop insurance program, our organization’s top priority, and strengthens the ARC-CO program through administrative improvements including a one-time program change option, an increase to the plug yield for disaster years, the use of a trend-adjusted yield factor, and a market adjustment provision for the floor price,” Lynn Chrisp, president of the National Corn Growers Association, said in a statement yesterday.

“The bill also provides increased funding for trade promotion programs that are especially important to agriculture at this time.”

Until President Trump signs his name on the document, the Farm Bill remains unenacted.

But the chances of him backing away from the bill at this point are low, said Amy Hagerman, an ag policy professor at Oklahoma State University.

“At this point all indications are that he will sign the bill,” she told Farms.com. “Obviously there are things that people would’ve liked to see included in the bill, but it’s a strong bill and Secretary Perdue is supportive of it.”

Between allowing the 2014 Farm Bill to expire and the uncertainty of passing a new Farm Bill before Congress adjourns for the year, this process should be remembered for its bipartisan cooperation, Hagerman said.

“I would say this is a bipartisan win,” she said. “When you look back on how we ended up at this point where the bill is just waiting for President Trump’s signature, we wouldn’t be here without strong bipartisan support.”

rarrarorro/iStock/Getty Images Plus photo

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.