October Advocacy Update

The Farm Bill is one of the largest pieces of legislation passed in Congress on a regular basis, generally every 5 years. The Farm Bill essentially sets the “rules of the road” for our food system, funding research, rural development, crop insurance, nutrition programs like SNAP, conservation efforts, commodity subsidies, and so much more. The Farm Bill was last passed in 2018 and was set to be renewed last fall, though Congress failed to do so. Instead, they passed a year-long extension of the 2018 Farm Bill. In the past year, tons of advocacy has happened regarding a new Farm Bill, though there’s been limited progress.

The House Agriculture Committee (HAG) passed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 (FFNSA), which does not align with Slow Food’s values, for example, it would cut nutrition and conservation funding. All but four Democrats in HAG voted against the bill. It is seen as unlikely that this bill would pass on the House floor. Meanwhile, the Senate Ag Chair, Debbie Stabenow, has released a framework for a Farm Bill that aligns much more with Slow Food’s values, but we don’t have the full text and therefore the Senate Agriculture Committee (SAC) has not voted on the bill yet.

On September 25th, the House and Senate passed the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act as a way to continue funding the government to avoid a shutdown by providing continuing funding at FY2024 levels for critical programs and general government operations through December 20th, 2024. The continuing resolution did not include a Farm Bill extension. Because the 2018 Farm Bill was not extended before October 1st, some programs will be “stranded” in three major ways: via funding, legal authority to continue to operate, or a combination of the two. Most programs will continue to be funded through the end of the calendar year.

The House agriculture chair told a Politico journalist that discussions have been mostly focused on getting a new reauthorization done, not an emergency package or a full Farm Bill.

Separately, the USDA announced additional funding for some programs that were losing funding because of the Farm Bill expiration. The funding included:

• $500 million for LFPA
• $500 million for local food in schools
• $500 million for TEFAP
• $200 million for a new, local food in childcare facilities initiative

            Overall, we are waiting for an extension on the 2018 Farm Bill, as that feels more likely than a new Farm Bill during the lame-duck session. Currently, most advocacy efforts are focused on getting folks to cosponsor marker bills for the Farm Bill that we want to see passed, so we have more clout around getting them into the next draft.