Our current farm bill is set to expire for the second time on September 30. It fails to address the many challenges family farmers face, including an inadequate farm safety net, climate change, land access, lack of support for organic producers and corporate control of our food and farming system.
If we’re going to support and grow a thriving, family-farm centered system of agriculture, these seven proposed pieces of legislation must be priorities in the next farm bill. (Please note that these are in no particular order.)
1. Crop insurance that works for more farmers
Whole Farm Revenue Protection Program Improvement Act
Crop insurance is intended to support farmers who suffer from yield losses or low crop prices. For the most part, crop insurance is tailored to large–scale commodity growers; it’s not a viable option for small, beginning, specialty crop (fruits, vegetables, nuts and nursery crops) and diversified farmers. As a result, a disproportionate amount of commodity farmers receive the majority of payments. Whole Farm Revenue Protection is a good alternative to traditional crop insurance. It is crop–neutral and protects a farmer’s entire operation, not just one crop, making it more suitable for diversified farms. The program is not without its faults, but thankfully, there’s a proposed bill to help. The Whole Farm Revenue Protection Program Improvement Act makes important improvements by streamlining paperwork, raising the limit to annual revenue expansion, strengthening the diversification discount and compensating crop insurances who sell this program appropriately.
2. Investing in climate smart and resilient agriculture
The Agriculture Resilience Act would help farmers mitigate the effects of climate change and would give agricultural producers the support they need to participate in conservation practices, while playing an integral part in being a solution to climate change. The incentive–based conservation options provided through the Agricultural Resilience Act lower the risks that farmers take when they change to practices that take better care of the environment.
3. Improving land access for new and Black, Indigenous and other people of color farmers
Increasing Land Access, Security, and Opportunities Act
Young farmers desperately need access to quality, affordable farmland. The Increasing Land Access, Security, and Opportunities Act would increase access to capital for underserved farmers, boost training and economic opportunity for new and beginning farmers and help to make land more affordable for young and Black, Indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC) farmers. A 2022 survey by the National Young Farmers Coalition found that land access is the top barrier young and BIPOC farmers face in launching and sustaining careers in agriculture. The Increasing Land Access, Security, and Opportunities Act would address the land access crisis head on by providing critical resources to both individual producers as well as community-led organizations to implement farmland access, retention and transition projects. It’s crucial that Congress ensures that investment in secure and equitable land tenure for the next generation is funded through the next farm bill.
4. Leveling the playing field for Black farmers
Along with everything else farmers face, Black farmers must contend with the additional challenge of historic discrimination, which has played a significant part in reducing the number of Black farmers and Black–owned land over the last century. The Justice for Black Farmers Act would keep farmers on their land and operating farms by protecting Black farmers from discrimination, protecting remaining Black farmers from land loss, restoring the land base lost by Black farmers and assisting all socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers (a USDA definition that refers to farmers and ranchers belonging to groups that have been subject to racial or ethnic prejudice).
5. Supporting organic agriculture
Strengthening Organic Agriculture Research Act
Organic agriculture is one of the fastest growing sectors in agriculture, but despite huge consumer demand, there are limited resources supporting organic research, education programs and extension resources, all of which are critical for supporting organic farmers and their operations. The Strengthening Organic Agriculture Research Act would bolster funding for the Organic Research and Extension Initiative, a program that supports research to address critical challenges facing organic farmers. The Act would also direct funding to support farmers transitioning to organic farming and increase funding for organic market research, a crucial aspect of developing organic markets.
6. Improving access to credit for farmers
Farmers rely on agricultural credit as a critical financial tool to plant crops, as well as to invest in sustainable practices, purchase livestock, replace old machinery and navigate marketplace disruptions. The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) is known as the “lender of last resort” for farmers who cannot access credit at commercial banks, but for many family farmers FSA is the only option. Farm Aid partners RAFI and NFFC report that without basic farmer borrower protections, strong institutional oversight and flexible lending terms, farmers can face predatory lending practices, discrimination and an extractive relationship with lenders. The situation is even more challenging for Black farmers, who have experienced decades of discriminatory lending practices from the USDA as well as private lending institutions. The Fair Credit for Farmers Act would enact loan payment deferrals, waive loan fees for historically underserved borrowers, limit the amount of collateral a farmer has to use to get a loan, and make other important reforms to FSA’s lending processes.
7. Fighting corporate control in our food system
Today’s food and farm system are dominated by a handful of multinational corporations. This corporate concentration harms consumers and buyers and puts our supply chain at risk. The Farm System Reform Act strengthens the Packers and Stockyards Act, one of the few tools the USDA has to address corporate control but that has been severely weakened in the past decades. The Act also supports a transition away from the factory farming that dominates our livestock system and invests in resilient and regenerative forms of animal agriculture. Importantly. The Farm Systems Reform Act would require greater price transparency and production accountability for meatpackers while abolishing abusive corporate practices that harm farmers.
It’s time to Take Action
Farm Aid and our partners work to advocate for policies like these that support family farmers. Think our farmers could benefit from these policies? Head over to our Take Action page and make your voice heard!
