WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD News) — Farmers are continuing to watch Washington closely as they wait for Senate action on the Farm Bill after the legislation recently cleared the House.
In today’s Champions of Rural America, Congressman Mark Messmer of Indiana shared his outlook on the legislation and why he believes an updated agriculture policy is needed.
Messmer says the legislation would help provide certainty for farmers as they face a much different economic environment than when the last Farm Bill was passed. He pointed to changes in commodity prices, input costs, and interest rates as key reasons lawmakers believe updated policy is necessary.
“The strong, bipartisan vote we had out of committee and on the floor for the Farm Bill set the stage for a five-year renewal of agriculture policy that is much needed. The eight-year-old version of the Farm Bill we’re operating off now, with one-year extensions, just does not provide answers to the challenges that farmers face today. Commodity price structure, input structures, and interest environments are completely different from when the last Farm Bill was passed. So it’s important that we give surety and clarity to our small business owners that our farmers are in their business environment.”
In his conversation with RFD News, Messmer also discussed concerns surrounding what he described as a retirement cliff in agriculture, where older farmers are transitioning out of the industry while younger producers struggle with access to credit and rising equipment costs. He highlighted provisions aimed at improving financing opportunities for beginning farmers and expanding domestic demand for agricultural products through updates to the BioPreferred Program.
“Now, one of the issues that the farm industry is facing is a retirement cliff where we have, you know, older farmers that are needing to transition out of farming and young farmers that don’t have the access to credit that they need to be successful. A new tractor costs over $250,000, and access to credit is strongly addressed for start-up farmers to make sure they have access to the capital they need to continue on as farmers. A second challenge the farmers face across the board is a lack of domestic demand for their products. And so we made some changes to the BioPreferred program to open up access to 1,745 new market access points for corn, soy, wood pulp, and farm waste. The bio industry creates four million jobs in this country and has $485 billion in economic impact. The bio industry uses 40% of all agricultural products used in this country. So extending and enhancing the BioPreferred Program to open up new markets, it adds new demand for farmers that they much need.”
Messmer additionally outlined several rural development priorities included in the legislation, including investments in child care, rural hospitals, mental health programs, broadband, wastewater infrastructure, and other community projects designed to support growth in rural America.
“We have funding in there for affordable child care for rural communities, investment in rural hospitals, investment in mental health programs for rural communities, and investment in infrastructure, wastewater, and broadband projects that will be funded through increased programming in the Farm Bill. And a community, as an example, the little town of Montgomery, Indiana, which has wastewater projects that need additional funding. They can’t build any more homes in that community until they increase the wastewater capacity. So, giving access to infrastructure improvement in rural America will help those rural communities grow.”
He also discussed issues specific to his Indiana district, including specialty crop concerns, crop insurance access, and livestock policy related to California’s Proposition 12, which he says could impact pork, dairy, and poultry producers.
“For the 8th District specifically, we have large melon-producing growers in Southwest Indiana, and last year, they had to leave some of their crop just rotting in the fields because the markets were not strong enough to even support, you know, bringing in the market. Make the first steps toward making specialty crops like melons and produce available. Starting the states and making them available for crop insurance, which will be huge for the growers in my district. Livestock producers across the district will be helped by the solution to the Prop 12 language that was passed out of California a few years ago. And so that’s important for the large pork industry. In my district, we have pork, we have dairy operators, we have poultry producers, you know, that all could be negatively impacted by Prop 12, and so that’ll be a huge win for the growers, utilize stock growers in my district.”
Messmer is encouraging the Senate to take up the legislation and move forward with a long-term Farm Bill that provides more certainty for farmers and rural communities.
