As the next Congress gets ready to convene on January 3rd, the Ag Committees in the respective chambers are turning their focus back to the 2023 Farm Bill. Of course, the makeup of Congress is going to be a little different next year. Democrats gained outright control of the Senate and Republicans took control of the House of Representatives with a narrow margin.
No matter who is in power, the Farm bill must be completed. To that end, there are many groups and organizations that want to see their priorities included in the legislation. One of those groups includes soybean farmers from across the country.
Daryl Cates is Vice President of the American Soybean Association (ASA) and an Illinois farmer. He talks about some of the asks they are bringing to Congress for the next Farm Bill. This includes protecting crop insurance. He also says that the Ag industry needs a bigger piece of the pie when it comes to Farm Bill funding. The money allocated is not just for Ag, but for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as well. Cates says more funding is needed to expand markets.
Cates says that ASA has long had a good working relationship on both sides of the aisle.
Leaders of both parties, in both chambers, have said they want to see the Farm Bill get completed on time. The last two Farm bill debates caused emergency extensions of the 2008 and 2013 Farm Bills while deals were being hashed out. As the industry is facing tremendous levels of uncertainty this time around, both parties know their farmer constituents cannot have any more uncertainty heaped upon them.
Learn more about what the American Soybean Association is doing, and how you can get involved, by visiting their website and following them on social media.
