SPTK Series: What Is the Farm Bill and Why Does It Matter?
The Farm Bill is one of the United States’ most critical pieces of omnibus legislation. It is passed every five years, with the last bill being passed in 2018 under the Trump Administration. The Farm Bill outlines national food and agricultural policies extending to programs like crop insurance, disaster relief assistance, conservation incentives, nutrition assistance, and agricultural research. The last time Congress passed some iteration of the Farm Bill was in September of 2023 in the form of a continuing resolution upon the expiration of the version of the bill signed in 2018. Since September 2024 has passed, the Farm Bill has still not made its way to the Hill despite being due.
Advocacy groups and farmers have expressed their concerns and frustrations that we may not get an updated 2025 Farm Bill before the end of the year. There have been some legal challenges associated with the previous Farm Bill, too. In Iowa, we can already see how certain GOP-based policy agendas are taking shape to impact the Farm Bill.
In the beginning of December, Iowa Farmers Union (represented by the ELPC) was approved to intervene in a federal lawsuit in Iowa District Court. The EPLC and related parties will defend swampbuster farm bill provisions, in CTM Holdings, LLC v. USDA, from the plaintiffs which deem the provisions to be unconstitutional. Swampbuster legislation has protected wetlands and safeguarded clean water whilst supporting farmers for decades. The plaintiff in this case is also the same entity that was responsible for the decision from Sackett v. EPA last year which entailed revoking Clean Water Act protections from many wetlands throughout the nation. This seems to be a motivated attempt at detaching incentives and financial relief from conservation programs. Swampbusters and sodbusters, respectively, mandate that farmers not drain wetlands or plant crops on highly erodible land if they want subsidies. These provisions are critically important for farmers and planet as sodbusters, for example, have proven to reduce soil erosion by forty percent. This case was initially filed in April of 2024 and will go on trial in mid-2025, far past when the new Farm Bill is expected to be passed by Congress; potentially implicating preemptive legislative challenges.
By January 1st, 2025, there needs to be a new bill or continuing resolution signed into law or the nation’s food and agricultural policies could revert back to provisions that were implemented during the Great Depression. There is also the chance that the incoming Trump administration and Congress will have to work together to urgently get a new Farm Bill in place. This new Farm Bill will need to include the concerns of farmers and environmental advocates as the economy and climate change continue to grow into pressing common issues for Americans. Congress currently finds itself in a Lame Duck Session awaiting the upcoming transition to a new administration, but there doesn't seem to be much movement on the bill outside of speculations from advocacy groups and policymakers. The US also finds itself in a place where according to the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture, farmers were just over 58 in age on average, which is a half-year increase from the last census in 2017. American producers are getting older, and young people desperately need to be integrated into the pastoral fabric of this nation. The Farm Bill also needs to be inclusive and incentivize young people to become producers themselves at such a critical point in our nation’s history. I call on anyone who is reading this piece to call their local federal representatives and demand that they pass new legislation before the close of this Congress. Our leaders are late on delivering quintessential legislation that impacts the ways in which Americans receive relief and support from the federal government, farmer or not. It is imperative that they do their jobs, and not leave the Farm Bill to chance like they did in 2023. There seems to be more reductive litigation outlined by the Project 2025 Agenda of rolling back regulatory environmental policies and conditions pertaining to the Farm Bill than there is a functional and punctual legislative process. The American people deserve and need more than this considering many exit polls during the 2024 presidential election conveyed Americans’ concerns with food prices, equitable access to land, and environmental challenges. It would seem that a proverbial game of soccer is being played with the Farm Bill, and has been for almost over a decade. These games need to end now, and policymakers need to step up. Join me in this call to action and mobilization!
- EG Leader, Tyler Massias
Sources:
Library of Congress. (2018). H.R.2 - 115th congress (2017-2018): Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. Library of Congress. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/2
Brown, E. R. (2024, December 5). As farm bill reauthorization debate continues, corporations keep lobbying funds flowing. OpenSecrets News. https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/12/as-farm-bill-reauthorization-debate-continues-corporations-keep-lobbying-funds-flowing/#:~:text=The%20farm%20bill%20failed%20to,cap%20funding%20for%20SNAP%20benefits.
Nemes, J. (2024, December 3). ELPC defends Farmers & Clean Water in Iowa. Environmental Law & Policy Center. https://elpc.org/news/federal-judge-approves-farmer-sustainable-ag-group-intervention-in-lawsuit-seeking-to-gut-wetland-protections/
Turrentine, J. (2023, June 5). What the Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA ruling means for wetlands and other waterways. Be a Force for the Future. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/what-you-need-know-about-sackett-v-epa
Snowden, S., & Rollins, B. (2020). Farm Bill Conservation Programs: Swampbuster and Sodbuster. National Agricultural Law Center. https://nationalaglawcenter.org/in-the-dirt-introduction-to-sodbuster/
Schnepf, M., & Cox, C. (2012). Conservation compliance: a retrospective... and look ahead. Environmental Working Group. http://static.ewg.org/pdf/conservation_comp_maxs.pdf?_ga=1.180451047.1373537909.1481568681
Fitzsimons, C., & Bylander, A. (2024, September 6). Project 2025 outlines devastating changes to USDA and the Federal Nutrition Programs. Food Research & Action Center. https://frac.org/blog/project-2025
Rossi, N. (2024, March 8). Examining the latest agricultural census data. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. https://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/examining-the-latest-agricultural-census-data/