The San Luis Valley depends on agriculture and the endangered resources in its aquifer. With the one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill, the valley is just one of thousands of rural areas waiting for news on what will be in the new Farm Bill. Photo by Tara Flanagan
As Congress brokered their last-minute deal to avoid a government shutdown, the 2018 Farm Bill was set to expire. In November, President Joe Biden quietly signed a one-year extension to the 2018 bill, allowing additional time for Congress to negotiate this huge, complex piece of legislation.
This was a good thing. According to a briefing by the Colorado River District’s Director of Government Relations Zane Kessler, if an extension had not been agreed upon, the fate of many federal agriculture and nutrition programs was in doubt.
While negotiations are ongoing, legislators from the West are raising the issue of long-term climate impacts.
Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, who is Chair of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Climate, Forestry, and Natural Resources, alongside U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and 15 bipartisan Senate colleagues, have called on U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry leaders to address long-term drought in the upcoming Farm Bill.
“Agriculture is the economic backbone for rural communities in our states. However, severe, long-term drought is devastating these rural areas,” wrote Bennet, Fischer, and the senators. “During periods of droughts, our farmers and ranchers face diminishing crop and livestock outputs. These negative effects reverberate through the community, affecting not just individual producers, but the broader local economy and food system.”
Here in the West, we know that the natural patterns of droughts have become more frequent, severe, and longer because of our changing climate. Since 2000, the American West has experienced some of the driest conditions on record, and the American Southwest continues to suffer an unprecedented period of extreme drought.
“We urge the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee under your leadership to consider these risks as you draft the upcoming Farm Bill. The farmers and ranchers in our states are counting on a multi-year Farm Bill that provides support to conserve water, improve watershed scale planning, upgrade water infrastructure, protect land from erosion, and create long-term resiliency on changing landscapes for growers in drought-affected regions,” concluded the senators.
With the one-year extension, several smaller initiatives like trade, research, and rural development programs can continue, at least for this year. Kessler pointed out that programs such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) could continue making payments on existing contracts but wouldn’t be able to offer new contracts. Other conservation efforts would go on hold. Not in danger; the Working Lands Programs are protected due to their funding being extended by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Behind-the-scenes work on the five-year Farm Bill has been in process for nearly 18 months. With the extension in place, negotiations are continuing, with the Freedom Caucus, generally considered to be the most conservative and far-right of Republicans, intent on cutting farm programs.
Among programs the Freedom Caucus is not enthusiastic about: Farm Bill-related provisions from the 2018 Farm Bill covering numerous food and nutrition policies and programs.“Key topics of debate will almost certainly include (food stamp assistance – SNAP) and funding levels for climate change and rural energy programs,” added Kessler.
Translation regarding the last two items: they’re less than enthusiastic about dealing with the West’s drought, or helping us in rural areas develop more efficient, climate-friendly energy sources.
In fact, members of the House Freedom Caucus are still demanding steep cuts to the ag portions of the new bill, not just nutrition programs. “The Freedom Caucus’ insistence on cutting farm programs is likely a bad sign for the farm bill, as those demands are nearly certain to resurface,” said Kessler.
Lawmakers have yet to release the draft text of the Farm Bill legislation in both chambers. Leaders in the House and Senate, Rep. G.T. Thompson (R) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) have announced their intention to share draft legislation when the bill draft is available.
What happens next? A late farm bill is nothing new.
In the 21st century, no farm bill has passed on time. As early as spring 2023, lawmakers began predicting a farm bill extension into late 2024. With the overall federal budget deadline already pushed back, consideration of the farm bill may be pushed back even further.
What is more concerning is the political climate. The Freedom Caucus has tended to work rather incognito, and doesn’t list their members. But Pew Research Center has confirmed the identities of 36 Freedom Caucus members through representatives’ public statements, their comments to the media, or their offices’ direct responses.
They are more conservative, they tend to be new members with less time in Congress, and they represent less than one-sixth of House Republicans. But they have an outsize influence; the group’s decision not to back House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy prompted McCarthy to pull out of the race and positioned the Freedom Caucus as a kingmaker, with current House Speaker Mike Johnson balancing on a razor-thin majority and juggling a volatile mix of issues and demands to retain his seat.
Out here in rural America — we wait. Perhaps we could remind the Freedom Caucus of who feeds this nation.
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