Farm bill passes now---BUT, it’s not guaranteed.

With Congress raising the debt ceiling and dealing with concerns about work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in June, some common sticking points that historically have kept a farm bill from timely passage appear to have been cleared up, a former long-time agriculture policymaker says. “Everything has been positive so far as far as the obstacles,” explained Collin Peterson. The current farm bill expires on Sept. 30, though it’s far from unusual for a new bill to be in place on the deadline. In fact, Peterson said there is no particular reason to have a new bill passed when the old version expires. Instead, if the House and Senate can’t reach an agreement by the end of the year, they could vote to extend the existing bill. “Nothing becomes critical on Oct. 1,” he said. Peterson served 15 terms in the U.S. House, representing Minnesota’s 7th District, and much of that time was spent in leadership on the House Agriculture Committee. He played a major role in crafting five farm bills during those years. After losing a re-election bid in 2020 , he helped form the Midwest Council on Agriculture , of which Northarvest Bean Growers Association is a member. The Midwest Council on Agriculture is a coalition of members from across the agriculture industry in 12 states: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The purpose of the council is to provide a united voice for agriculture out of the region to policymakers. Peterson and former USDA Undersecretary Bill Northey, of Iowa, modeled the council after Southwest Council on Agribusiness and the Delta Council, which helped propel the needs of their members to Congress. In mid-June, Peterson was gearing up for a trip to Washington, D.C., later in the month to meet with ag committee leaders and offer his advice. Being out of Congress has freed him up to give his “legitimate advice” rather than worrying as much about getting people from across the country on board with a unified plan. “I think I’m almost doing more good on the outside,” he said. A money problem Peterson said a few obstacles remain in getting a bipartisan farm bill completed. While the SNAP issues and debt ceiling conversations should be cleared up, he said there remain House members “agitating” for change. But he doesn’t think they have as much power as they act like. “People in charge of committees say SNAP and work requirements are settled and won’t be brought up again,” he said. But even with that major hurdle cleared, others remain. The big one is a lack of money. “Every day, another group is looking for additional money,” Peterson said. “Right now, there is no additional money.” It’s unlikely that Republicans would agree to a tax increase and equally unlikely that lawmakers would cut spending in another area to put more into the farm bill, he said. That means putting more money into programs in one part of the farm bill likely would come at the expense of other parts of the farm bill. A substantial amount of funding went into conservation programs through the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Biden administration’s Climate Smart programs were put in place through the Commodity Credit Corporation. Some opponents of the increased funding would like to see cuts in those areas to fund other things in the farm bill, Peterson said, but he said that doesn’t seem like something Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who chairs the Senate Ag Committee, would support. “Stabenow is not going to stand for that,” Peterson said, noting that millions of dollars already have gone out in grants for the conservation programs, and canceling those would “set off alarms” in agriculture. “Anybody that’s anybody in agriculture has gotten a grant.” That lack of money means farm groups might not get all of the things they want out of the new bill. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t still advocate for themselves and their needs. “They should maintain their relationship with their elected officials,” he said. It’s not the job of farm groups to figure out how to come up with the money; it’s their job to say what they need for their members to be successful, even if they know the money might not be there right now. “The people on the committee can sort that out,” he said. He recommends farmers and farm groups engage at town hall meetings with lawmakers and reach out to members on the House and Senate Ag Committees. The Northarvest Bean Growers Association was among a number of farm groups that sponsored farm bill listening sessions across North Dakota in the spring. The sessions were an opportunity for farmers to tell farm groups what mattered to them, including the kinds of issues they are having on their farms that might be helped by policy changes. Protecting the farm bill From the overall perspective of the Midwest Council on Agriculture, Peterson said the existing farm bill is a good framework. “We want to protect what’s there. That works pretty well for Midwest agriculture,” he said, noting agriculture in other areas, including the South and West, have legitimate concerns about things like low reference prices for prominent crops. Crop insurance is the most important thing to protect, in his perspective. Ideas that could undermine the existing crop insurance program include payment limitations on subsidies and tying crop insurance to things like conservation. But Peterson said the program could use some help in the area of affordability for places with regular weather instability — including North Dakota and northern Minnesota. Somewhere like Iowa, farmers can buy 95% protection on corn at a “pretty reasonable amount.” “But in North Dakota, you really can’t afford to go above 75%,” he said. Improving the ability to buy coverage in the Dakotas and Minnesota, as well as places like west Texas and Oklahoma, without undermining the overall structure of the program, would be welcome changes, Peterson said. “If we did this, it would maybe eliminate the need for ad hoc disaster (programs),” he said, noting that it’s unlikely that such programs would ever completely end because of unexpected situations. However, Peterson said flexibility remains key. “We’re not locking ourselves into anything until we see what we’re working with here. Is there more money? Is there not more money?” he said. And then, as ever with the farm bill, it’s a matter of getting everyone on the same page.

“This bill is not going to get done if it’s not bipartisan,” he said.