Originally published in the Statesboro Herald.
After the recent passage of a one-year extension of the current Farm Bill, U.S. Rep. Rick Allen, R-Georgia 12th District, addressed the House Agriculture Committee, of which he was previously a member, earlier this month about what he wants in a new five-year Farm Bill to be enacted in 2024.
He discussed what he sees as the essential elements in a phone interview with the Statesboro Herald the week before Christmas. Allen, from Augusta, represents a district that encompasses Statesboro, Waynesboro, Dublin and Vidalia and well over a million acres of farm land. He noted that he had held roundtable discussions with farmers in the district. First elected to Congress in 2014, he was a member of the Ag Committee for eight years.
One obvious question was why a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill was necessary instead of Congress enacting a new five-year Farm Bill this year.
“We probably have about 200 members of Congress that are new that have never voted – this thing’s authorized every five years – and they have not voted on a Farm Bill, and so the reason we extended this thing is to continue to educate them and really just get them on board with it,” Allen said.
Not all farming
The “Farm Bill” is a package of legislation that outlines agriculture and food policies administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not limited to direct farm programs. It consists of 12 major sections, called “titles” in federal law, ranging from, for example, Title I governing “commodity” support programs for farm products such as cotton, peanuts, and corn; and Title II, setting out conservation policies; to Title IV covering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP; Title VIII, on forestry; and Title XII, miscellaneous programs.
By most accounts, SNAP, the present-day descendant of the Food Stamp program, makes up at least 75% of spending in programs the bill covers. Allen said about 80% of total spending represented by the Farm Bill is “mandatory funding” of this kind, with “discretionary spending” actually for farm programs making up the remainder.
Sides in debate
Updating the bill can be fodder for disagreements not only between Republicans and Democrats, but also between the most fiscally conservative Republicans and those with significant numbers of farmers or other agricultural interests in their districts.
“From our side, folks want to know – particularly some of the more conservative members – why do we have to have a Farm Bill, and then of course from the other side – we made a lot of reforms to Supplemental Nutrition and things like that, and they want to know, well, why did we make those reforms,” Allen said.
Some Democrats – Allen didn’t name the parties but spoke of those on “our side” and “that side” – were not happy with changes Republicans made with work requirements for nutrition assistance through a more recent piece of legislation than the 2018 Farm Bill.
“We got some work requirements when we did the debt ceiling deal, basically trying to get people back to work, and unfortunately, they think that’s imposing on these people, and we think we should give them the opportunity to go to work and live the American Dream,” he said.
“So that’s kind of the divide, and we just weren’t there yet, and so we passed this extension, and again, my farmers don’t want just a new farm bill, they want the right farm bill, and we’re still making changes as the world changes out there,” Allen said.
President Joe Biden signed the one-year extension into law Nov. 17 along with the continuing resolution to keep government programs funded. The Farm Bill now extends to Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year, unlike the spending extension for many programs that lasts only a few weeks into January.
Allen's outreach
Allen said he is very in tune with the issues going forward to the new Farm Bill, after eight years on the committee. He has also been given a special task by the current committee chair, Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Pennsylvania 15th District.
"I am one that the chairman chose to communicate with members (of Congress) throughout the Southeast on the particulars in this Farm Bill and really on both sides of the aisle trying to get folks to understand," Allen said.
Farmer priorities
“As far as my priorities, obviously which are our farmers’ priorities, it’s increasing reference prices of Title I commodities – as I’ve said our farmers are in a fight for their lives primarily caused by inflation,” he said. “We’ve got supply-chain disruptions, rising input costs, and then we have some issues with depressed commodity prices.”
The reference prices are floor levels on the market prices available to farmers for common crops such as, in this area, cotton, peanuts and corn, as well as other commodities, such as wool and honey. When prices fall below these levels, farmers are eligible for payments through the Agriculture Risk Coverage, or ARC, and Price Loss Coverage, or PLC, programs.
“We’ve got to increase reference prices to keep up with inflation,” Allen said. “That means if a farmer’s crop fails through no fault of his own, he has the margin to plant again and not lose his business. …
“Specifically, we need to allow producers who are enrolled in ARC and PLC programs to be able to purchase Stacked Income Protection Plan, or STAX, coverage, and these are insurance products,” he continued.
STAX was introduced for cotton in the 2014 Farm Bill and covers a portion of the expected revenue from a crop in a certain geographic area.
USDA deadline
Allen noted that just last week the USDA announced that farmers can now enroll in ARC and PLC programs for the 2024 crop year, with March 14 as the deadline for enrollment or changes in enrollment.
In his remarks during the Agriculture Committee's "Member Day" hearing on Dec. 6, Allen urged the committee also "to consider a provision to ensure our farmers have coverage should supply-chain issues cause problems with planting or harvesting, like a requirement for including 'lack of agronomic inputs' as covered under USDA's Multi-Peril Crop Insurance policies."
The insurance could then cover a farmer for a crop loss resulting from, for example, an inability to obtain fertilizer because of a supply-chain disruption, he confirmed in the interview.
"This is really coming from our farmers, too, in these roundtables," he said.
H2A Guestworkers
Allen noted that just last week the USDA announced that farmers can now enroll in ARC and PLC programs for the 2024 crop year, with March 14 as the deadline for enrollment or changes in enrollment.
In his remarks during the Agriculture Committee’s “Member Day” hearing on Dec. 6, Allen urged the committee also “to consider a provision to ensure our farmers have coverage should supply-chain issues cause problems with planting or harvesting, like a requirement for including ‘lack of agronomic inputs’ as covered under USDA’s Multi-Peril Crop Insurance policies.”
The insurance could then cover a farmer for a crop loss resulting from, for example, an inability to obtain fertilizer because of a supply-chain disruption, he confirmed in the interview.
"This is really coming from our farmers, too, in these roundtables,” he said.
Chairman's hope
The Agriculture Committee chairman, Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pennsylvania 15th District, expressed optimism in a Dec. 6 press release, available at https://agriculture.house.gov/news/
"We can craft a bipartisan farm bill that aligns the farm safety net with the needs of producers, expands market access and trade promotion opportunities, strengthens program operations to demand transparency and accountability to the taxpayer, and reinforces not only the importance of helping our neighbors in need, but doing so without indiscriminate expansion of our nutrition safety net,” he said.
"However, significant headwinds exist,” Thompson continued. “These range from the stark politics of the 118th Congress to the costs and funding constraints across the 12 titles of the bill.”
