The Farm Bill needs to be completed by Sept. 30
By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com
U.S. producers are letting their representatives know which items are most important to them during Farm Bill discussions.
Farmers are generally supportive of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The program helps low-income people access nutritious food.
President Trump’s budget would shift $116 billion in SNAP costs to the state level over 10 years, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
But if farmers can benefit from federal programs, the rest of America should too, says Matt Russell, a beef and poultry producer from Iowa.
Russell’s farm survived a drought with assistance from a farm bill disaster relief payment.
“My obligation, then, is to put conservation, and put practices on my farm that have public benefits,” he told Harvest Public Media today. “And then the other really big piece of this is that, as a farmer, I need to be supportive of the SNAP program.”
In Minnesota, producers raised issues including strengthening the future of agricultural careers and protecting research funding.
“We want to push people go to into agriculture, but we need help in broadening what students can do,” Kegan Zimmerman, a regional president with the Minnesota FFA and a student from Red Rock Central High School, told the Mankato Free Press on Jan. 13.
Livestock producers are also concerned about the farm bill’s implications.
Vaccinating hogs to reduce the risk of foot and mouth disease is of significant importance to ensure the success of the ag industry, Dave Preisler, CEO of the Minnesota Pork Producers Association, told the Mankato Free Press.
And some of America’s minority farmers, including Native Americans, are working together to make sure their voices are heard during farm bill discussions.
More than 30 U.S. tribes make up the Native Farm Bill Coalition, a group designed to give Native Americans a united voice on a common Farm Bill agenda.
Indigenous farmers operated more than 56,000 farms and ranches across the U.S., according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture.
And members of the group feel the farm bill can have a significant impact on their lives.
“There’s really no part of a reservation community that the farm bill will not impact,” Zach Ducheneaux, a south Dakota farmer and member of the Native Farm Bill Coalition, told MPR News on Jan. 11. “Everything from the electricity to the water that you use, the food on the grocery store shelves, the buildings that you’re going to house your community activities in.
“It’s absolutely critical that Indian Country realizes how big of a player (the farm bill) could be in their game.”
For Congress to complete the bill on time, they would need to have all the components finished by Sept. 30, according to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
And President Trump is working with members of Congress to ensure that happens, he said at the American Farm Bureau’s annual meeting on Jan. 8.