Young Farmers, Healthy Food Programs to Suffer in Farm Bill Delay

There will probably be no agreement on the authorization bill before the Sept. 30 deadline of current law, according to two agriculture lobbyists familiar with the matter. That will put out to pasture a number of programs that don’t have budget baselines, which are Congressional Budget Office projections of continued funding levels.“For even three months, to even have that level of a hiccup in a program that’s supposed to be addressing a long-term and urgent need is irreparable,” Andrew Bahrenburg, policy director at the National Young Farmers Coalition, told Bloomberg Government Friday.

The Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Development Program was authorized by the 2014 farm law (Public Law 113-79)and provides grants to organizations for education programs targeted at individuals just entering the agriculture world. Some of those grants are used to link retiring farmers with new farmers looking for land and to provide apprenticeships.

The most recent Agriculture Department census from 2012 shows the average age of a principal farmer to be 58 years old—a 2 percent increase from 2007 that “is climbing,” Bahrenburg said.

House and Senate Agriculture leaders were still trying to settle differences over a number of major farm bill provisions this week, Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said. Both she and Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) have said that lawmakers negotiating the bill face no firm deadline until December.

The farm bill (H.R. 2) being negotiated would authorize agriculture programs for five years. The largest partisan divide is over work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. House lawmakers proposed to tighten restrictions and add a mandatory work training program. Senate negotiators have balked at these changes to the program.

Veggies on Back Burner

Another program that would be on hold is the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Program, which was authorized by the 2014 farm law to promote the purchase of fruit and vegetables among SNAP recipients by providing an incentive at the point of purchase.

Not having the program in operation “means less money in the pocket of farmers,” Wes King, senior policy specialist at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition told Bloomberg Government.

Some of the most popular grants under the program are used at farmers markets through a Double Up Food Bucks program, in which SNAP recipients get double their benefits if they purchase fruits and vegetables. That helps support small local farmers in rural areas.

There are a number of other programs without budget baselines that will end if no bill deal is reached and could result in program layoffs and an administrative “nightmare,” said Bahrenburg.

“We find it so irresponsible right now that Congress seems to be considering just letting Sept. 30 letting go,” he said. “The stakes couldn’t be more clear.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Teaganne Finn in Washington, D.C. at tfinn@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Hendrie at phendrie@bgov.com; Brandon Lee at blee@bgov.com; John R. Kirkland at jkirkland@bgov.com

Let's block ads! (Why?)