SALEM — Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer met with farmers and ranchers Tuesday at the Oregon Farm Bureau’s Salem headquarters to talk.

The topic: the 2023 Farm Bill.

Chavez-DeRemer, in her first term representing Oregon’s 5th congressional district in the U.S. House, is helping shape the bill as a member of the House Agriculture Committee. The representative told farmers she asked to be on the ag committee during the 118th Congress because she cares about Oregon agriculture.

“This farm bill’s gonna be a massive one, as we know,” Chavez-DeRemer said.

The Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, estimates the 2023 Farm Bill could cost an average of $150 billion a year — the most expensive on record.

Rep. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-Pa., chair of the House Agriculture Committee, aims to pass the new farm bill before the 2018 version expires on Sept. 30.

“This farm bill is moving fast. We’re on it,” said Chavez-DeRemer.

At the listening session, she fielded questions about various farm bill sections, called titles.

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. In the 2018 Farm Bill, the remaining titles were: trade; credit; rural development; research, extension and related matters; forestry; energy; horticulture; and miscellaneous.

NutritionThe CBO forecasts the nutrition title — which includes SNAP food stamps and other food programs — will make up 82% of the 2023 Farm Bill.

The nutrition title is also one of the bill’s political sticking points.

Some legislators, including Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, want to keep current funding in place for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Meanwhile, Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and 14 Republican co-sponsors — including Chavez-DeRemer — plan to introduce a bill to tighten SNAP work requirements. Notably absent from the list of 14 co-sponsors is Thompson, the House agriculture chairman, who has said he acknowledges the farm bill’s preexisting mandate to provide nutrition support without strict work requirements for eligibility.

Asked about the bill she is co-sponsoring, Chavez-DeRemer said her goal is to “modernize” SNAP, meeting people’s needs while being fiscally responsible.

John Zielinski, owner-manager of E.Z. Orchards near Salem, said it is important to him that the nutrition and agriculture titles remain bound together in the farm bill as a tool to prompt bipartisanship. Chavez-DeRemer replied that she does not expect the agriculture and nutrition titles to be separated.

ConservationA few farmers expressed frustration over changing rules and regulatory uncertainty within some of USDA’s conservation programs.

One farmer, for example, told a story about how a USDA sub-agency initially classified his land as “not wetlands.” USDA later reclassified the same land as “wetlands,” prompting the farmer to withdraw from a conservation program that he wanted to continue.

Chavez-DeRemer sympathized: “Nothin’ ever stays the same long enough for anybody to figure it out.” Policies change; programs change; new officials take office, she said, adding that she understands farmers need certainty and said she would look into the issue.

Some farmers said they would also like to see water conservation and storage become a bigger part of the farm bill’s conservation title. Jeff Stone, executive director of Oregon Association of Nurseries, agreed.

“Why is storage a dirty word?” said Stone. “…We’re not doing sufficient storage.”

“That’s right,” said Chavez-DeRemer. She agreed that when water is not stored during wet seasons for use in dry seasons, it is a “lost opportunity.” She did not, however, specify whether the farm bill was the appropriate avenue to address this.

Stone, of OAN, and Jon Iverson, a manager of Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Woodburn, urged Chavez-DeRemer to seek more agricultural research funding — including for land-grant universities and research on grass seed.

Denver Pugh, of Pugh Seed Farm, also emphasized the need for broadband internet investments. Chavez-DeRemer agreed internet access is “key.”

Moving forwardAs the listening session ended, Chavez-DeRemer urged farmers and ranchers to reach out to her about the farm bill. She said she is still learning and wants their input.

“My office is open for business every single day,” she said. “I’ll call on you because I don’t know everything.”

After the event ended, the congresswoman’s spokesman said Chavez-DeRemer will continue to meet with farmers and ranchers to chat about the 2023 Farm Bill. Future discussion topics will include trade, specialty crops, forestry and other programs.