(Washington D.C.) The 19th modern-day farm bill before the U.S. House and Senate faces many challenges.
Randy Russell, President of the Russell Farm Group, appeared in front of Farm Broadcasters at the Washington Watch Conference in Washington D.C. on Tuesday afternoon. Russell has been through nine farm bills. He says the nine had three factors driving the outcome: the farm’s economic environment, budget environment, and political situation.
Russell says the current debt to an asset for agriculture is around thirteen percent.
Russell says the political environment is historic. For example, it takes 218 votes to pass in the House of Representatives. Currently, out of 435 members, only 35 represent primarily rural districts.
Russell says the current budget situation is going to be front and center. The ten-year cost of the 2018 farm bill was $867 billion. Seventy-six percent of the cost of this program went to nutrition programs, primarily SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. The ten-year price of the 2023 farm goes from $867 billion to 1.5 trillion dollars.
Russell notes other challenges, such as the debt-ceiling issue, that will come to vote, the earliest being July. He says it will be virtually impossible for agricultural committees to mark up their bills in the House and the Senate without dealing with the debt ceiling.
The other issues up for debate include changes in the nutrition program and whether there are work requirements to qualify. Will there be changes in the reference prices and where they were set compared to the higher prices today? The other central question is the Inflationary reduction act put into the four major conservation programs to incent growers to adopt climate-smart ag practices.
That’s Randy Russell, President of the Russell Group.
