U.S. Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, this week called for putting “more farm in the farm bill” following the release of the Senate Republican-drafted framework of proposed changes to the 2018 federal Farm Bill.
The GOP framework unveiled Wednesday sets out to:
- Modernize the farm safety net to ensure producers have risk management tools that reflect the current and projected economic challenges they face.
- Restore U.S. leadership in the global agricultural marketplace and repositions U.S. producers as the world’s export leaders.
- Create rural communities the next generation chooses to call home.
- Jump-start chronically underfunded agricultural research programs and facilities, allowing the U.S. to reclaim our rightful place at the forefront of innovation.
- Facilitate a historic expansion of popular conservation programs, ensuring producers achieve stewardship goals while best addressing their unique and varied needs.
- Ensure vital nutrition programs continue to deliver relief to those in need without any benefit cuts or elimination of inflation adjustments.
- Empower the next generation of farmers to take the reins by helping them harness opportunities to grow and succeed.
The Republican plan comes on the heels of the Democrats’ framework, released earlier this year by committee chair U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-MI. Democrat priorities aim to:
- Reduce hunger.
- Strengthen America’s farmers.
- Invest in sustainable agriculture.
- Revitalize rural America.
- Lower costs for farmers and families.
- Improve equity.
- Support renewable energy and bioenergy.
Boozman issued the following statement Wednesday with the release of the GOP plan:
“From the onset of this process, we have sought to draft a farm bill that reflects the needs of stakeholders. The world has changed dramatically since the 2018 bill became law, and the unprecedented challenges and economic uncertainty that farmers face now are only projected to get worse in the coming years.
This is why producers have been calling on senators to put more farm in the farm bill.
Our framework released today meets that call by modernizing the farm safety net, facilitating the expansion of access to overseas markets, fostering breakthroughs in agricultural research and growing the rural communities our farmers, ranchers and foresters call home – all while making a historic investment in conservation and protecting nutrition programs that help Americans in need.
Following on the House Committee on Agriculture’s bipartisan passage of farmer-focused farm bill, we are putting forth a framework that exhibits a shared common ground with our Democrat counterparts on several key priorities and offers a path forward in the places where we differ.
Our framework builds on the momentum from committee passage in the House and Chairwoman Stabenow’s release of Senate Democrats’ priorities. I am eager to follow the House’s lead and draft a bill that will garner support on both sides of the aisle.
I have been proud to partner with Chairwoman Stabenow on priority issues and shepherd significant reforms into law, particularly the accomplishments focused on climate and nutrition. These accomplishments would not have been possible without a commitment to working together as good faith partners. Senate Republicans have every intention of continuing farm bill negotiations in the same manner and remain committed to advancing a bipartisan farm bill that meets the needs of farmers, ranchers, foresters, rural communities and consumers nationwide.”
Meanwhile, the results of a new Farm Journal poll reveal that farmers in 10 leading agricultural states, including Arkansas, overwhelmingly believe conservation funding is important in building their operations’ resilience to increasingly extreme weather and addressing the effects of climate change.
The poll, commissioned by the nonprofit Invest in Our Land, surveyed 1,019 farmers, ranchers and producers across Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, South Dakota, Michigan, Montana and Wisconsin.
By a double-digit margin, farmers and ranchers indicated their desire for Congress to protect $20 billion in conservation funding originally authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and ensure those funds remain dedicated to climate-smart practices in the upcoming Farm Bill, according to a press release.
Other findings from the survey:
- A supermajority of farmers believes conservation funding has an important role to play in building farms’ resilience to extreme weather and addressing the impacts of climate change. Eighty-five percent of respondents said that conservation funding plays an important role in helping farmers and ranchers adapt in the face of increasingly extreme weather, and 67 percent said that conservation funding plays an important role in protecting our planet from the effects of our changing climate.
- Two-thirds of farmers say conservation programs increase farms’ resilience to extreme weather. Sixty-six percent of respondents said they agree that conservation programs “help farmers implement practices and make on-farm upgrades that can increase operational resilience in the event of extreme weather events (such as droughts, floods, etc.)”
- Six in 10 of the farmers surveyed support the IRA’s investment in conservation funding. Sixty percent of respondents indicated that they support the IRA’s $20 billion investment in agricultural conservation programs. By contrast, only 18 percent oppose this investment.
- Farmers oppose removing climate-smart requirements from IRA conservation funding by a double-digit margin. Forty-one percent of respondents said they would oppose congressional efforts to remove the requirement that the $20 billion in IRA conservation funding be directed only toward conservation practices that have proven more effective in reducing carbon emissions. Twenty-eight percent would support such an action — representing a 13-point margin in favor of keeping the dollars dedicated to climate-smart conservation, while 24 percent of respondents had no opinion.
READ ALSO: PINNACLE IT EXPANDS TO HOT SPRINGS, OPENS NEW OFFICE
