At the National Association of Farm Broadcasters (NAFB) annual Washington Watch event in Washington, D.C., Farm Director KC Sheperd had the chance to talk with the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Vice President of Public Policy, Sam Kieffer, about the 2024 Farm Bill from the perspective of AFBF.
“We need a Farm Bill- period,” Kieffer said. “We absolutely, positively need a Farm Bill. It is a year overdue, and if you think about the last time Congress passed a Farm Bill, it was 2018. A lot has changed since then. We have experienced a global pandemic, we have experienced nearly record inflation, and we are seeing significant global turmoil, and political strife internationally on multiple fronts. We are seeing international channels for shipment of goods including agricultural products being blocked or at least rerouted. The world is different than it was in 2018, and we need a Farm Bill that reflects modern times.”
Due to the changes seen over the years along with global uncertainty, Kieffer said there must be an investment into the Title I crop commodity program and conservation programs focused on production.
“We want to ensure farmers continue to have access to programs that allow them to do the monumental heroic things around sustainability,” Kieffer said. “We want to make sure that the nutrition title and the farm programs stay united because that is how you get a farm bill done. Farmers have historically taken it upon themselves to make sure to look out for their friends and neighbors in their community. That is what a Farm Bill does. It ensures the most vulnerable among us have an opportunity for three square meals a day.”
Kieffer said the longer it takes to get the Farm Bill across the finish line, the more difficult it this process will become.
“We have a presidential election, and politics is always difficult, but if you believe public opinion polls, what we might experience after the election could be divided government in a different way than we are seeing it now,” Kieffer said. “So, there is no incentive from our vantage point in delaying the already late Farm Bill.”
Regarding some of the biggest issues being faced by the agriculture industry today, Kieffer said agricultural labor is at the top of the list.
“We need Congress to come together in a bipartisan way, and a serious way, to address the issue,” Kieffer said. “It is hard to accomplish legislation in the halls of Congress. It was meant to be that way. What we are seeing, in many ways, is a level of frustration even among members of Congress who are trying to come about this, in a bipartisan way, to fix it.”
