The Farm Bill is the federal government’s main agriculture and food policy legislation. This omnibus bill, passed every five years, affects policy and the amount of funding provided for agriculture, food assistance, natural resources, and other United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programming. The current Farm Bill, passed in 2018, is set to expire in the fall of 2023 and the Agricultural Committees in Congress have already begun work on it. Read more about the Farm Bill here.
Every Farm Bill offers an opportunity to address important issues facing family farmers and our food system. Farm Aid endorses the Farm Bill policy platforms of our partners, including the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (PDF), RAFI, National Family Farm Coalition (PDF), and others. Based on Farm Aid’s priorities and in conversation with our partners, we support a Farm Bill that:
- Addresses the economic crisis of family farms, through modernizing farm credit, improving the crop insurance program, providing debt forgiveness to farmers, and funding services and programs that support the mental health of rural communities;
- Reforms our industrialized agricultural system through regulating concentrated animal feeding operations, prohibiting government spending on operations that violate labor laws and fair practices, and leveling the playing field for small family farmers;
- Addresses the corporate monopolies that dominate our food system through strengthening existing antitrust and anti competition laws and enforcement, banning and reversing anti competitive mergers in the food and agriculture industries, expanding USDA investment in small and mid-sized farms, and funding regional food system markets and development;
- Protects our soil and water and addresses the existential threat of climate change through investing in organic agriculture funding and research, increasing the funding of conservation programs, expanding programs that incentivize climate-mitigation practices, and prioritizing climate-change, soil health, and regenerative agricultural research;
- Centers racial equity and addresses the barriers and generations of historic discrimination faced by America’s Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) farmers.
