The “farm bill coalition” that guides the $90 billion-a-year farm bill through Congress traditionally is composed of farm, conservation and antihunger groups. Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer unveiled an alternative bill that would reduce farm subsidies, strengthen soil and water stewardship rules, expand access to healthy food, tackle food waste and protect animal welfare with a bet that a new and larger coalition will carry it to victory.
“People are aware of this issue and they are passionate about it,” the 12th-term Democrat said during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol. “This is the biggest and broadest coalition that I can imagine being assembled.” Backing Blumenauer at the news conference were fiscal hawks, food movement leaders, animal welfare activists, environmentalists and small-farm defenders.
Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree said as America’s eating habits have changed, there is rising interest in how food is produced. “People of all income levels want more access to healthier food,” she said, using the example of the boom in organic food. Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro contrasted Blumenauer’s approach with attempts by conservatives to cut the food stamp program. “It is going to be a fight and we are not going to back down,” said DeLauro.
The leaders of the House Agriculture Committee are focused on comparatively minor revisions to the 2014 farm law rather than the overhaul that Blumenauer proposed for the 2018 farm bill. So, Blumenauer’s best chances would be to offer amendments during House debate of the farm bill. Representatives tend to defer to committee leaders during floor debate and the leaders defend the legislation approved by their panels against last-minute changes. But Blumenauer and his supporters say their bill reflects the thinking of Americans. “There is a vast coalition that is assembled if only we can work together,” said Blumenauer, whose district is dominated by Portland, Ore.
Farm groups expect the greatest challenge of the 2018 farm bill debate will be preservation of the federally subsidized crop insurance system. The Senate voted, 66-33, as part of the 2014 farm law to require the wealthiest farmers to pay a larger share of crop insurance premiums. The idea was deleted during House-Senate negotiations over the final version of the bill.
Blumenauer’s bill would deny farm supports, including crop insurance subsidies, to operators with more than $500,000 adjusted gross income, down from the current $900,000 AGI and limit operators to a maximum of $125,000 a year in crop, conservation and crop insurance benefits. It would require farmers to practice land stewardship to qualify for farm supports. It would also direct cost-sharing funds toward cover crops, organic farms, and farms that raise livestock on pastures, and deny those funds to industrial-size livestock farms that use them for manure treatment projects.
To improve access to healthy food, the Food and Farm Act would authorize “veggie prescriptions” to improve diets in poor neighborhoods, expand a program that provides fruit and vegetable snacks in schools, and also increase a program that effectively discounts the price of fruit and vegetables for food stamp recipients.
In contrast to the typical farm bill, the Blumenauer bill has the first sections devoted to food waste and humane treatment of farm animals. The bill would implement the organic livestock rule that the Trump administration has delayed until May 2014. It also bans slaughter of cats and dogs for human consumption.
To read a summary of the Food and Farm Act or the the text of the bill, click here.