Minnesota farmers wonder: Will a new federal farm bill ever come?

FARMINGTON, MINN. — Congresswoman Angie Craig met with a room full of farmers late last week, with a farm bill still elusive back on Capitol Hill.

Craig opened the meeting Thursday by noting farmers had “weathered” a tough year, listing off the challenges many had reported to her in Minnesota’s farm country, from high costs on fertilizer and fuel, to labor shortages and drought.

Then she alluded to gridlock in Washington, D.C., especially the task of House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, to corral his members to agree on legislation, including the once-every-five-years omnibus bill for farm and food policy.

“The Republican conference right now is about five groups in just one party,” Craig said, “notwithstanding that once they get agreement among themselves they got to bring it to us [Democrats in the minority].”

The farm bill, covering over a billion dollars in spending on nutrition programs, crop insurance and sustainable ag-land funds, has been stuck on the legislative road.

Congress last rewrote the farm bill in 2018, with Republicans controlling Congress and the White House. That bill was set to expire last September. But Congress extended the 2018 law for another year.

Now, fast approaching Super Tuesday of an election year, begrudging consensus is building on Capitol Hill that the farm bill might not get its moment in the spotlight in a crowded season in Washington.

“We can only kick this can down the road so many times,” said John Dvorak, a sheep farmer from Webster, Minn., in rural Rice County.

Commodity groups, including those representing wheat and dairy farmers in Minnesota, are concerned about outdated reference prices — that is, the point at which federal subsidies kick in to compensate farmers for markets that bottom out.

Many dairy farmers in Minnesota relied on loss coverage policies in 2023, as the price of milk fell off.

Rep. Brad Finstad, a Republican representing southern Minnesota, joined some Republican colleagues in sending a letter earlier this month to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, requesting the agency open enrollment to the dairy margin coverage program.

When Congress extended the farm bill for one year, they also wrote into the dairy safety net a new regulation that has required a comment period, delaying the USDA’s announcement of the program’s 2024 sign-up period.

In a statement to the Star Tribune, Finstad said the USDA has promised to “quickly” reopen enrollment.

On Thursday, the conversation spanned a range of anxieties, including increased environmental regulations, concentration and farmland ownership.

“First of all, everybody around here is concerned about the family farm,” said Ed Terry, a crop and cattle farmer outside Northfield.

Minnesota boasts a number of members of Congress on agriculture committees, including Craig, the third-term DFLer, whose district spans suburbs and cornfields.

As for whether a farm bill reauthorization is imminent, she said to stay hopeful.

“I think all the players — the leadership, at least — are dedicated to getting the farm bill across the finish line this Congress,” Craig said.