(WASHINGTON D.C.) – As lawmakers continue to navigate a full legislative calendar in 2025, farmers and ranchers continue to advocate for getting a new five-year Farm Bill that could provide certainty to a struggling agricultural economy.
Dr. John Newton, Executive Head at Terrain, says that ad hoc assistance that USDA is starting to rollout is helpful, but doesn’t replace getting an updated Farm Bill.
“Well, I think Congress saw where farmers have been the last few years at the end of last year with the continuing resolution, providing more than $30 billion in support to help farmers deal with not only economic losses, but catastrophic natural disasters that they faced,” says Newton. “That’s welcome news to producers that are looking to shore up some of their working capital that may have been eroded over the last few years.”
“But we’ve really got a tale of two farm economies,” says Newton. “The cattle producers have seen record cattle prices, record feeder cattle prices. Milk margins have been strong yet volatile. But, you know, overall, where we are in the farm economy, the federal support is going to help, but that’s why a farm bill is needed, because you cannot count on ad hoc support that’s so uncertain.”
Many in agriculture have said that the 2018 Farm Bill was a good bill, however a lot has changed since it was enacted. A global pandemic, supply chain disruptions, inflation and more have completely changed the economic landscape for producers.
Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) is a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and he chairs the Subcommittee on Agriculture Appropriations. He is optimistic about getting a new Farm Bill across the finish line by this summer.
“You know, optimistically maybe June,” says Senator Hoeven. “I mean, that’s why it’s so important we got that emergency assistance at the end of the year, combined with the one-year extension to get our guys through. But it would be really good if we could get it by June. I’m hopeful, but that might be optimistic.”
He says updating reference prices and enhancing crop insurance along with livestock programs are some of the key priorities needed to get a Farm Bill done this year.
“The keys are, one, we’ve got to update reference prices,” according to Senator Hoeven. “If you look at my FARMER bill, it’s really a good marker bill for what I think you’re going to see in terms of the enhancements to crop insurance, like say both at, you know, your enterprise level as well as the supplemental coverage options. I think we’re there on that product, and that’s going to be a big help. That’s the number one thing I get asked for in terms of assistance from farmers. We’ll also enhance the livestock programs. So LIP and ELAP and the livestock forage program, we’ll enhance those. And again, that I think is a done deal.”
Senator Hoeven added that “The key is we’ve got to update reference prices in ARC and PLC. That’s the key. We have to get that. And then the other thing is, you know, we’re not going to cut food stamps, but we have to have a reasonable job requirement. And we have to have reasonable accountability for the states distributing it.”
For Newton, he believes that the need to get an updated Farm Bill done is critically important this year. “round the country, you know, I think the need to get a farm bill done is critically important,” says Newton. “Chairman Thompson said, if we don’t get a farm bill done this year, we’re going to be right back here at the end of this year, doing another ad hoc package because of where the farm economy is. So I think, you know, we need that farm bill to give farmers the certainty and the risk management tools they need. Even today, some of the crop insurance products don’t even cover anything near the breakeven costs on the farm.”
Hear our full conversation with Senator John Hoeven on the Thursday, March 20th episode of Agriculture of America (AOA) and our conversation with Dr. John Newton from the Friday, March 14th episode of Market Talk linked below:
