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The number of legislative working days for this Congress is dwindling, but there’s at least one man who isn’t giving up hope on getting a farm bill across the finish line this year.
“We need to put that pressure on,” says American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall. “We need to tell them we need a farm bill now. It needs to happen in ’24, not ’25.”
Duvall was in Northern Indiana Tuesday touring ag facilities with Indiana Farm Bureau leadership. He says the grassroots efforts of Farm Bureau members have made a difference in D.C. and the pressure to get a farm bill done is mounting.
“I’ve had the opportunity to visit with the Chair of the Senate Ag Committee, Ms. Stabenow, and told her that we needed a farm bill today, and we need it now. It needs to happen this year. And I could tell that she’s feeling the pressure. So, if you’re out there and you’ve been helping us, don’t let up now. We need to continue to do that.”
Duvall says that in the last 10 days, the four corners of agriculture, meaning the chairs of the House and Senate Ag committees and the ranking members, have been communicating about a way forward for the farm bill in this upcoming lame duck session.
“That is new news, and I’m encouraged. So, continue to put the pressure on. Don’t let them back off, let them continue to work and try to get some legislative text out of the Senate, which we haven’t gotten yet, and be able to have something to go to conference with.”
Duvall mentions the Senate there but encourages you to not let the House off the hook either. They’ve put their version of the farm bill through committee but not the full House. He’s asking everyone to contact their members of Congress to put the pressure on and get this farm bill done.
“Every American benefits from a good, sound farm bill. Whether it be to help get a farmer through to the next year or whether it be through the nutrition program, which is 85% of the expenditures in the farm bill goes to nutrition programs that feed children and families that are in need. And what American would be against that?”
We’ll have more in the coming days from Duvall’s trip to Indiana.