After a marathon three day session, the U.S. Senate passed its Farm Bill on June 21st. The final Senate version includes several provisions to help small and sustainable farms, many of which Washington Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell supported. Please take a moment to send an email thanking Senators Murray and Cantwell for supporting Washington family farming and organic agriculture. Their contact information can be found here.
Before amendments, the Farm Bill was estimated to cost approximately $970 billion over the next decade, which works out to about $23 billion in spending cuts. The most fundamental change from the previous (2008) Farm Bill is a major switch from direct payments to commodity crop producers (who grow wheat, corn, soybeans, rice, et cetera) to subsidized crop insurance.
Tilth Producers applauds the senators for including the following programs in the final Senate Farm Bill:
- Specialty crop (fruit and vegetable) block grants ($70 million per year) and specialty crop research ($25 million+ per year)
- Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program ($150 million) and Department of Defense Fresh program ($50 million) to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to schools
- Hunger-Free Communities grant program ($100 million over 5 years)
- Farmers Market and Local Food promotion program ($100 million over 5 years)
- Beginning Farmer and Rancher development program and rural development programs ($150 million saved by a floor amendment supported by Senators Murray and Cantwell)
- Crop insurance support for organic farmers (also saved by an amendment)
Below are disappointments from the Senate Farm Bill process:
- $4.5 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program (food stamps), cutting benefits to half a million families by $90/month (despite Senators Murray and Cantwell’s best attempts to prevent this)
- $3.7 billion in cuts to working farm conservation programs
- Failure to pass an amendment (supported by Senators Murray and Cantwell) which would have made it explicitly legal for states to mandate labeling of foods with genetically engineered ingredients
- Senators Murray and Cantwell’s failure to support conservation compliance requirements for receiving crop insurance subsidies (included in final bill anyway)
While this bill includes important reform and the positive, incremental, program-based changes above, it does not steer the Farm Bill towards the coherent food systems policy needed to fundamentally shift the country’s farming landscape to one that is environmentally and culturally sustainable.
The Farm Bill will now go to the House for committee mark-up and a floor vote. This will be followed by conference to align Senate and House versions, and then the bill will be sent to President Obama for signing. Ideally, the new Farm Bill will be signed into law before the 2008 Farm Bill expires on September 30th.
Stay tuned and get involved as the bill moves into the House by signing up for our listserv!