MSGA Signs Letter Urging Farm Bill Passage

Sep 11, 2024

Citing worsening economic conditions impacting the nation’s farmers, the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA) joined more than 300 national and state groups in sending a letter to congressional leaders on Sept. 9 calling on them to pass the Farm Bill before year’s end.

Signatories included groups representing farmers, livestock and specialty crop producers, lenders and other essential stakeholders in agricultural communities across the U.S. Commodity and lending groups will head to the Capitol en masse this week to advocate for passage of the legislation with a stronger agricultural safety net. Minnesota farmer Jamie Beyer, a director with both MSGA and the American Soybean Association (ASA), will join four other ASA directors in meeting with D.C. lawmakers Sept 10-11 to push for passing the legislation.

“It is critical that Congress pass a new farm bill that strengthens the safety net as many producers are facing multiple years of not being profitable, and this is causing their overall financial situation to deteriorate,” the letter said. “Some will have challenges as they seek operating credit for the 2025 crop year.”

The farm bill is typically passed every five years and supports the nation’s farmers, ranchers and forest stewards through a variety of safety net, credit, conservation and other critical programs. The law was originally scheduled for reauthorization in 2023. Last November, Congress voted to extend the existing legislation to September 30, 2024. Since that point, the leadership from both parties on the Senate and House Agriculture Committees have worked to push the legislation forward.

As the farm bill has faced delays, producers across the country have experienced headwinds, ranging from extreme weather to high input costs to uncertain global demand to supply chain disruptions.

Since the beginning of the year, the harvest price of major crops traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Intercontinental Exchange have fallen by an average of 21% while total production costs remain near record levels.

Farmers and their allies say these challenges have exposed areas of the farm bill that need to be strengthened.

Click here to see more...

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.