“Congress, I can tell you, they will do nothing if they’re not pushed,” says Ryan Yates, managing director of government affairs with the American Farm Bureau. “The only way to get Congress to do anything is to make them uncomfortable.”
Yates is encouraging you and other farmers to reach out and make them uncomfortable as they head back to D.C. next week with a lot on their plate and few work weeks left this year.
“The first issue is government funding. So, the fiscal year ends September 30th. Congress will need to either kick the can to the lame duck session after the election, or they could kick the can until early in the new year. Congress is late to the game when it comes to completing a farm bill. They’ve already kicked the can once. They failed to get it done last year and continue to fail in finding a path forward.”
He says farmers can’t afford for Congress to wait to solve these issues.
“Appropriations, federal funding, it’s a must do. Everybody knows it has to be done. Continuing to kick the can is a sad state of affairs. When it comes to the farm bill, the world looks a whole lot different in 2024 than it does in 2018. If you look at the state of the economy, the rural economy is in distress.”
Yates says farmers are typically good storytellers, and now is the time to tell that story to elected officials.
“One of the things that farmers and ranchers can continue to do is reach out, talk to their members of Congress, get to know their staff. Be heard.”
Source: NAFB News Service
