GREENWICH, N.Y. — Let the games begin!
Well, technically the games have been going on since last year when it comes to preparing for the 2023 farm bill, with U.S. House and Senate members meeting with constituents in their home states, holding round tables and such, trying to get a feel for what people think about the current farm bill and its programs, and what additions or corrections may be needed.
But much like the National Basketball Association, nobody really pays attention to the games until things get serious around playoff time. Folks, the playoffs are now approaching, and things are starting to heat up.
This winter and spring, experts and others are being called in for topical hearings in the House and Senate agricultural committees, sharing and discussing different ideas and concepts, all in an attempt to get some feel for the direction things may go or need to go as a 2023 farm bill begins to take shape.
In addition to concepts brought up in hearings, “marker bills” also will be introduced into the conversation. These are pieces of legislation that likely wouldn’t go anywhere on their own, but with the proper maneuvering and massaging could work their way into some aspect of the farm bill beast.
And a beast it is indeed. As described by the Congressional Research Service, “the farm bill is an omnibus, multiyear law that governs an array of agricultural and food programs.” When the most recent 2018 farm bill was enacted, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the total cost of its mandatory programs would be $428 billion over its five-year duration, from fiscal year 2019 to FY2023. Four titles accounted for 99 percent of the 2018 farm bill’s mandatory spending — Nutrition (Title IV), Commodities (Title I), Crop Insurance (Title XI), and Conservation (Title II) — with Nutrition easily outpacing all the rest, accounting for 76 percent of the estimated total. The Nutrition title includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and other nutrition assistance programs.
The breadth of the bill has grown from the original two titles of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 to the 12 titles of the 2018 farm bill. The issues addressed in the 2018 farm bill encompass agricultural commodity supports, credit, trade, conservation, research, rural development, foreign and domestic food programs, and many other policies and programs. In a nutshell, the bill touches most aspects of food and farming in some fashion, and everybody eats, so the number of groups coming to the table, looking for a piece of the farm bill pie, is truly staggering. Easily more than 500 different groups and organizations are lobbying for the aspects of the farm bill that touch their world.
For self-described farm bill nerds, this current phase of the process is when things start to get really fun. Why? Because this initial exploration and discussion phase is where farm, conservation and other groups have the best opportunity to get in on the ground floor with ag committee chairs, ranking members and other committee members who will be putting together initial drafts of farm bills in both the House and Senate. If these groups can get their concepts and ideas written into this first draft, or “base text” for the nerds listening, that’s probably the best chance they’ll have of influencing the final bill.
That means representatives of the forementioned more than 500 different groups and organizations, along with a fair number of other individuals, are all now in the process of jockeying for position around the ears of congressional ag committee members and their staff. For farmers reading this column, picture it as something akin to what happens when fresh feed is dropped into a full pen of feeder pigs, or a pan of parlor milk is shared with a herd of barn cats. It can get interesting in a hurry.
Farm bill veterans will say that during this scramble, good ideas, regardless of where they come from, always have an opportunity to make it into the base text. But if the goal is to change existing programs within the bill, it really takes an organization, or often multiple organizations working together, to make a difference. Individuals and their ideas matter, but this time in Washington, D.C., is really when ag commodity and conservation groups, along with farm organizations, show their worth.
An idea shared with a county affiliate that moves on to a state organization, eventually becomes part of that groups national policy, and then is pushed by a coalition of several national groups that share similar interests — that’s how things can get done. It’s just the way things work, and different groups cannot expect to get everything they want. They have to be willing to give and take, working with as many groups as possible, and get the best they can out of the process.
That’s where we are at the moment. The jump ball is in the air, and hundreds of interested parties are hoping to get the tip … or at least get a finger on the ball as it goes zipping by. This initial phase of the farm bill process will likely last until late spring or summer of this year, when the agriculture committees in the U.S. House and Senate will share their first drafts of the bill.
Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll continue to share some of the history of past farm bills and how they played out, who within the government tends to have more influence on the farm bill, what the coming phases look like, what the different titles entail, what might the new concepts or biggest debates look like, and more. It’s certainly a topic you’ll be seeing plenty about in your daily editions of Morning Ag Clips over the coming year, possibly into 2024, and Lord help us if we’re still talking about it in 2025, but sadly that wouldn’t be unprecedented.
Get yourself a popcorn, a soda, maybe even or beer or two … or three … depending on how this all plays out, and grab a courtside seat. The playoffs are approaching.
Kyle Sharp grew up and lives on his family’s farm near Amanda, Ohio. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural communication. Twenty years in ag media, 10 years operating the family dairy farm, many experiences through 4-H and FFA, and a family with a keen interest in politics have helped him see many sides of farming life.