Debbie Stabenow

With time running short for action on the new farm bill, Senate Agriculture Committee chairwoman Debbie Stabenow said on Wednesday that the legislation has to consider public nutrition and agricultural programs equally. While lawmakers have disagreed for months on SNAP funding, higher crop subsidy spending, and climate mitigation, they hope to reach an agreement in the near term.

With Congress resuming work after its summer recess, Senate Agriculture chairmwoman Debbie Stabenow said she would do "everything in my power to pass a farm bill" this year. Farm-state lawmakers have been deadlocked for weeks over SNAP funding, higher crop subsidy spending, and climate mitigation.

Congress can enact a new farm bill this year, despite being months behind schedule, if lawmakers respect "the needs and interests of the broad farm and food coalition," said Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow on Tuesday. "I know we can build on bipartisan cooperation and finish a 2024 farm bill."

Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow said she would delay the new farm bill, already five months overdue, to 2025 rather than accept cuts — sought by Republicans— in SNAP and climate funds. "Tell you what: If we get to the end of the year [and] instead of a farm bill, I have protected nutrition for children and families in this country, I'm okay with that," said Stabenow on Tuesday.

Farmers are clamoring to enroll in the USDA's climate mitigation programs, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Tuesday, while leaders of the Senate and House Agriculture committees made it official: December is the new target for passage of the farm bill. The 2018 farm law expires on Sept. 30, but there is little peril until dairy subsidies terminate on Dec. 31, said House Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson.

When Congress writes the new farm bill, it should maintain the nutrition safety net that is headlined by food stamps, said Georgia Rep. David Scott, the senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow has said for months that "we're not going to go backwards" on SNAP, possibly the most explosive issue in overhauling U.S. food and farm policy.

Senate Agriculture chair Debbie Stabenow, who rejected Republican attempts to slash SNAP in the 2014 and 2018 farm bills, said on Thursday that she would retire from the Senate in two years — enough time to enact another farm bill. Stabenow, the first woman elected to the Senate from Michigan, is serving her second stint as Agriculture chair and has said for months that “we’re not going backwards” on SNAP in the new farm bill.

Although lawmakers may try to cut SNAP benefits as part of the farm bill due in 2023, “we’re not going backwards,” said Senate Agriculture Committee chair Debbie Stabenow at a food conference on Thursday. Deadline for the bill is Sept. 30, although “oftentimes there has to be an extension. So that may happen.”

Congress could fail to pass the upcoming 2023 farm bill if Republicans try to mangle the food stamp program, warned House Agriculture chairman David Scott on Monday. Speaking at a farm conference, Scott said the farm-and food-coalition of rural and urban groups was vital to enactment of the farm bill, panoramic legislation that ranges from farm and stewardship subsidies to SNAP, agricultural research and rural development.

When Trump appointees at the USDA parceled out trade war assistance to farmers, they exaggerated the damage in 2019 and over-compensated corn and wheat growers, said a congressional agency on Monday. "This report confirms that the Trump USDA picked winners and losers in their trade programs and left everyone else behind," said Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat.

The chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee called on Thursday for a $50 billion increase in funding for the USDA's stewardship programs to combat climate change on farms and ranches. And a USDA report said forests could absorb an even larger share of U.S. carbon emissions than the current 14 percent through a combination of tree planting and prudent management.

The incoming chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee said she will pursue "voluntary, producer-led" solutions, such as carbon markets, for agriculture's contribution to fighting climate change, with the USDA providing expert advice to producers. Sen. Debbie Stabenow also said the USDA could need additional funding to pay for climate change programs.

Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who last year sponsored legislation to encourage farmer participation in carbon markets, is expected to chair the Senate Agriculture Committee for the second time in a decade now that the Democrats will control the Senate. Stabenow's return to power was aided by the defeat of a fellow committee member, appointed Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, in a runoff election on Tuesday.

Agriculture can be “one of the most promising and biggest solutions to the climate crisis” if carbon sequestration and regenerative practices are implemented, former vice president Al Gore said on Wednesday at the annual Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research conference in Washington, D.C.(No paywall)