The farm bill carries a legacy of bipartisanship with both sides of aisle routinely working together to pass the bill that affects all Americans. However, in recent years partisan lines have been drawn in the sand with each side of the aisle unwilling to budge from their positions and lose any funding for programs that they favor.
This has led to a situation where farmers are operating with an outdated farm bill in place, without the updated and modernized bill necessary to provide a comprehensive safety net and certainty that farmers need. The last farm bill was passed in 2018 and instead of a new farm bill in 2023, Congress passed one-year extensions of the 2018 bill in both 2023 and 2024.
This month the House Agriculture committee has been working to move food provisions normally protected in the farm bill, such as SNAP benefits, into the reconciliation package. Aaron Lehman, President of the Iowa Farmers Union says that the move threatens the tradition of bipartisanship in the farm bill and farm program funding.
Lehman says that the farm bill must be a comprehensive bill, and that food programs and farm programs should not be divided.
He adds that a new farm bill is long overdue and that a bipartisan effort is the only way forward.
For more information visit https://iowafarmersunion.org/
