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The U.S. Farm Bill: A chat with Delta Council’s Frank Howell about the long wait for #19
By MARK H. STOWERS
The U.S. Farm Bill – hundreds of pages of legislation with 12 sections that cover everything from crop insurance to food stamps. The 2018 version – the last one that keeps getting patches and additions, started out at 530 pages but is now over 1,000 with the edits and extensions over the years. Normally, the Farm Bill is renewed every five years. The first one was created in 1933 by the FDR administration to help with the drop in U.S. crop prices after the first World War and the effect of both the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl on farmers and agricultural market. And with every state in the U.S. growing some type of crop, the Farm Bill affects everyone to some extent.
There have been 18 Farm Bills in all and Congress is crafting #19 to put in place when the extension of the 2018 Farm Bill expires at the end of September. Delta Council Executive Director Frank Howell explained more about the importance of the Farm Bill. The most recent extension was part of the Relief Act passed in late December that included billions of dollars of financial help for struggling farmers.
“As recently as yesterday (February 28), high-ranking officials at USDA, including Secretary Rollins, indicated that USDA will meet the deadline of March 21st, outlined in the bill for delivering assistance to farmers. So that money is coming by the end of March,” Howell said. “While it certainly is a drop in the bucket of the red ink that is splashed across Mississippi Delta agriculture, it did give bankers some assurance for next year as they work on production loans right now. Every commodity that is grown in the Mississippi Delta is underwater (in price.) There’s not a crop that anyone can plant that shows a profit. Farmers are really sharpening their pencils and trying to decide what makes the most sense for their operation to not lose the most amount of money. That’s a depressing situation to be in and it takes a lot of the fun and joy out of it. It’s important that Congress pass a new Farm Bill.”
He pointed out the new Farm Bill is two years late and desperately needs to be updated to meet today’s farmers’ needs.
“We have got to update reference prices that have not been changed in two farm bills,” he said. “A Farm Bill is a safety net and it does not guarantee anything. The depth of the financial struggle we are in, a new Farm Bill would help but would not provide as much support for the losses. We are in a tough situation and we hope the international scene gets better in the next year or so and get back to prices where we hope to break even. Brazil has become the 1,000-pound gorilla in agriculture. They are decimating the Amazon and turning it into crop land and have been doing so for a long time. China has been helping them underwrite the infrastructure for this new ground. They are a force to be reckoned with. Their crops determine a lot about our crops’ profitability like the rest of the world looks to our crops.”
He noted that in working with Congress, Delta Council and others in Mississippi are a great resource.
“We try to provide them with information and growers in Mississippi are so fortunate to have Mississippi State University,” Howell said. “Their agricultural economics team is on top of all of the situations and is providing data that we can hand to legislators. This isn’t just Farmer Bill saying the sky is falling, these are the numbers at the bank. Mississippi was the one that kick-started the discussion on ad hoc assistance. Trent Kelly responded with the Farm Act he introduced in the House. It didn’t become law as it was written but was the beacon for the efforts behind it. He carried a lot of water. On the Senate side, Republicans John Boozman (Arkansas and chairman of the Senate Ag Committee) and Cindy Hyde-Smith understood before a lot of their colleagues.”
District 1 Representative Trent Kelly (Republican) is a member of the Agriculture House Committee. Pennsylvania Representative Glenn G.T. Thompson is chairman.
The 12 sections or titles in the bill include: Commodities, Conservation, Trade, Nutrition, Credit, Rural Development, Research/Extension/Related Matters, Forestry, Energy, Horticulture, Crop Insurance and Miscellaneous. Each title has subtitles and sections.
Howell noted that even though discussion has been ongoing, the 19th Farm Bill should start to take shape by May and work its way through both chambers by September.