WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the 2018 Farm Bill set to expire on Sept. 30, the race to pass a new farm bill is underway in Congress.

To snatch a first glance at the 2023 Farm Bill, Capital Press talked with the bill’s lead authors: Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Rep. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-Pa., chair of the House Agriculture Committee.

The mammoth piece of legislation will impact food, farming and families.

“The farm bill probably has more impact on American families on a daily basis in so many different ways — economically, environmentally, nutritionally — than anything else we do in this country legislatively,” said Thompson.

Thompson has been in the U.S. House since 2009. Last year, he was the ranking member of the House Ag Committee. After the House flipped from blue to red in the November election, former House Ag Committee Chair David Scott, D-Ga., passed his gavel to Thompson.

Stabenow has been in the U.S. Senate since 2001 and has already co-authored two farm bills, passed in 2014 and 2018. This farm bill will be her last; Stabenow plans to retire in 2025.

The bill’s authors agree passing a new farm bill before the old one expires will not be an easy feat. Work on the legislation is behind schedule and political divisions — between and within the parties — could make for a fractious congressional session.

Nevertheless, Thompson and Stabenow say they’re determined to pass the package on time.

A little history

The first farm bill, called the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, was part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. According to the Library of Congress, legislators passed the bill to help farmers facing the devastating effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The original package focused on reducing surplus and raising crop prices.

Since then, Congress has passed a new farm bill about every five years. Through the decades, the bill has evolved into an omnibus package with many subsections, called titles.

“Farm bills are, like most pieces of legislation, a product of their times,” Bradley Lubben, agricultural economist and extension associate professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, told farmers at a January conference.

In recent farm bills, four big titles — crop insurance, commodities, conservation and nutrition — have accounted for 99% of total spending, according to the Center for Agricultural Profitability.

Crop insurance

One of the most important titles in the farm bill subsidizes crop insurance. Many farmers rely on federal crop insurance programs to keep their businesses afloat when something goes wrong, such as a natural disaster spoiling a crop.

Stabenow and Thompson support protecting crop insurance in the 2023 Farm Bill.

“The first principle is to protect crop insurance,” said Thompson.

Stabenow agreed: “Crop insurance has been and continues to be our main risk management tool. So, I certainly want to continue to strengthen that.”

In House and Senate ag committees, the conversation surrounding disaster payments is also heating up. In recent years, Congress has increased impromptu disaster payments to farmers — after heat waves, for example. Farm groups and legislators are talking about whether permanent disaster aid should be part of the farm bill.

Stabenow and Thompson, however, have both expressed concern over the growing reliance on ad hoc disaster aid.

“I am concerned that we’ve had I think six years of ad hoc disaster payments,” said Stabenow.

Thompson said he thinks the 2023 Farm Bill should bolster traditional safety net programs such as crop insurance while lessening farmers’ reliance on impromptu assistance.

“Ad hoc lacks the certainty that both farmers and lenders need in the agricultural space,” he said.

Commodities

Another major piece of the farm bill is the commodities title.

Under this umbrella are a few sections that impact dairy.

Since the 2018 Farm Bill, the price for Class I milk, used in beverage milk products, has been calculated by finding the average of advanced Class III (cheese) and Class IV (milk powders) skim milk prices plus 74 cents. Before 2018, the formula was the higher of advanced Class III and Class IV skim milk prices.

Although the change was well received by the industry, COVID-19 volatility combined with the new formula resulted in millions of dollars lost in Class I pool revenue, according to American Farm Bureau Federation economist Daniel Munch.

“This has fueled much recent conversation about whether the pricing change made in the 2018 Farm Bill has been helpful to dairy farmers,” Munch wrote.

More recently, Munch said the impacts of the formula change have been “less noticeable.”

Asked whether they are open to changing the formula again, Stabenow and Thompson said they do not have a plan yet but want feedback from dairy farmers.

“We are just at the beginning of looking at it,” said Stabenow.

“Everything’s on the table, as far as I’m concerned,” said Thompson. “I have no pre-drawn conclusions on that other than that it is something that we should look at.”

Another program within the commodities title is the Dairy Margin Coverage program, which provides risk protection for dairy producers when milk prices are low and feed costs are high. The formula is supposed to protect a producer’s profit margin and is calculated by subtracting the average price of feedstuffs from the national all-milk price.

Thompson and Stabenow agree the program is working as-is.

“What I am hearing so far is it has worked rather well,” said Thompson. “I don’t anticipate, at least at this point, a lot of major changes to that title.”

Stabenow shared a similar viewpoint.

“For the last farm bill, there were serious issues to address. And we did address them. We’re still getting feedback, but so far, I’ve been hearing that the program has been working,” she said.

The Dairy Margin Coverage program is unique in that it is focused on protecting a farmer’s profit margin, something most crop growers cannot protect.

Some farm groups and members of Congress have proposed creating margin-type safety net programs for crops, according to Lubben, the agricultural economist. Similar to the Dairy Margin Coverage program, the formula might be something like crop revenue minus main input costs.

Where do Stabenow and Thompson stand on this?

Thompson said he is concerned about producers’ income margins at a time when input costs are sky-high. He said he is interested in exploring whether it’s possible to create a program similar to the Dairy Margin Coverage program for crops.

Stabenow said she is open to the idea but is “not wedded to any particular approach.”

Whether it’s financially feasible is another question. The ag committees will be restricted to a baseline budget. This spring, the Congressional Budget Office will calculate how much each appropriation in the draft farm bill will cost over five-year and 10-year timeframes. If the CBO’s projections show that the committees will exceed their allowed budget, they will have to go back to the drawing board to make cuts.

“We are restricted by the resources that we have in the farm bill, but beyond that, I’m open to whatever works,” said Stabenow.

Conservation

The farm bill’s conservation title covers programs that help farmers adopt conservation practices. The title funds a spectrum of programs run by USDA, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP.

Thompson said he supports further investment in conservation and would like to see funding for the programs come from not only the farm bill but also the voluntary private sector.

He has proposed the SUSTAINS Act, a separate bill that would allow businesses to contribute financially to USDA’s conservation program accounts and in turn receive “climate credentials” showing their commitment to helping the environment.

“So, obviously I want to maintain a robust conservation title, but I also believe there are opportunities for a public-private partnership,” he said.

Stabenow also supports further investment in conservation programs via the farm bill.

However, knowing that Congress would be restricted to crafting a farm bill within the baseline budget, she preempted the farm bill by securing dollars for conservation programs in other recent omnibus bills. In the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, for example, Stabenow secured $20 billion in additional funding for USDA’s conservation efforts.

“I’ve taken the strategy of trying to do some of that during appropriations instead of waiting for the farm bill,” she said.

Nutrition

The nutrition title includes funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and other food assistance programs.

Of the four big titles, the nutrition title is the biggest. In the 2018 Farm Bill, nutrition spending made up about 76% of the total bill. Last year, the Congressional Research Service tentatively projected that the nutrition title could make up 84% of total spending in the 2023 bill.

The nutrition title is shaping up to be one of the bill’s political sticking points.

Historically, within the Republican party, members of the House Freedom Caucus, the farthest-right bloc, have opposed significant spending increases on SNAP. In the past, this opposition has slowed the bill’s passage.

“Freedom Caucus members tend to be fiscal hawks. They look at the price tag,” said Tanner Beymer, senior director of government affairs at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

At the start of this congressional session, the GOP has a narrow hold on the House, is divided internally and has new members, giving the Freedom Caucus a strong position.

If Republicans make significant cuts or eligibility changes to the farm bill’s nutrition title, said Beymer, the bill will be dead on arrival.

Stabenow plans to stand firm on keeping existing nutrition funding in place.

“Certainly, my first expectation is that we will not cut SNAP benefits for families,” she said.

The senator said it is too early to know whether the bill will increase nutrition funding.

She said passing the bill may be “a little more complicated” this year, but she said she is confident Congress will get it done.

On the House side, Thompson said he has started educating members of his party about the farm bill and the nutrition title.

“I understand my responsibility to get my colleagues on board,” he said.

Thompson said he supports a nutrition title that offers flexibility, enhances education programs that promote healthier eating and maintains program integrity — making sure families that need SNAP can get it and preventing those who don’t need it from abusing the program.

Thompson said he also acknowledges the bill’s preexisting mandate to provide nutrition support without strict work requirements for eligibility.

Other programs

After the four big titles gobble up 99% of the farm bill’s funding, the remaining 1% goes to the rest of the bill’s titles.

In the 2018 farm bill, other titles were: trade; credit; rural development; research, extension and related matters; forestry; energy; horticulture; and miscellaneous.

On the credit title, Stabenow and Thompson favor maintaining or potentially strengthening farmers’ access to financial credit, including federal loans.

On forestry, Thompson, who described himself as having “sawdust in his veins,” said he will push for a title that reduces barriers to harvesting, advances the Good Neighbor Authority between federal and state agencies and manages wildfire risk.

The rural development title will likely build on existing pilot projects related to supporting community development, providing technical assistance and expanding rural broadband internet availability.

“If rural America is to stand any chance at all, we have to end this digital divide,” said Thompson.

The road ahead

The ag committees have a big task ahead, especially if the predicted political squabbles unfold. The next nine months will determine whether Congress can pass the 2023 Farm Bill on time.

“The only good option on the table, and certainly the one I’m committed to, is getting this bill done on time,” said Thompson.

Stabenow seems equally determined.

“This is a must-pass piece of legislation,” she said. “Traditionally, we’ve been able to put our heads down, Democrats and Republicans who understand how important this is, and we’ve been able to get it done. And so that’s my goal again.”