American producers are facing many challenges, and they are looking for certainty.
National Farmers Union President Rob Larew says it boils down to Farm Bill delays, market instability, and policy uncertainty.
“We need certainty in the markets. We need certainty in policy. We need certainty at USDA right now. I mean, as farmers, we wrestle with uncertain conditions all the time, right? Markets go up, they go down. We have a lot of challenges with the weather and so forth. But right now, the government is adding to that with trade war uncertainty, and where that’s ultimately going to go. We’re already seeing the increased costs associated with that. Stagnant markets. We don’t know where that’s going to go. All of this is in the context of a 2018 Farm Bill that didn’t get us through a pandemic very well.”
While it might not seem realistic that Congress can get a new Farm Bill approved, Larew says it simply has to happen in 2025.
“Our point is it has to be realistic. I think we need to reject the notion that Congress can simply continue to kick the can down the road. We’ve already done two extensions to this farm bill. We already urged Congress to take action before we got into an election year. We got into an election year, and we said it would be next to impossible to get a farm bill done. Well, unfortunately, we were right. So now we’re in an environment where they’re talking about cuts and savings. This is a terrible environment to be doing in a farm bill, but unfortunately, the conditions out there, particularly the farm economy, demand action right now.”
Larew cautioned that a narrow approach could jeopardize the broad coalition needed to pass a comprehensive Farm Bill.
