What We Want From the Farm Bill

By Michael Wall

Michael Wall is the Director of Farmer Advocacy at Georgia Organics.


Congress has finally given us drafts of the Farm Bill and there is plenty of cud of chew on, but definitely keep this in mind:

The passage of this important legislation is a marathon, not a sprint, and there still is a very long way to go. 

We don’t think it is time to pick up the phones and start calling Members of Congress - yet. But it is time to do some reading and to familiarize yourself with who your representatives are and how to get in touch with them for when the time comes. 


THE VERY LATEST ON THE FARM BILL

Actually, we’re not going to the play the “Very Latest on the Farm Bill” game. By the time we hit publish on this blog post, the Farm Bill and the politics around it will likely have changed a lot. Instead, we’re going to talk about what we want to see out of the Farm Bill and stay focused on the priorities our farmers told us about in the survey we sent out when we first launched Farmer Advocacy in 2022. 

We would add that there is a lot to be desired from both the Senate and House versions, at least as far we’ve seen (details on the Senate bill are forthcoming but there is an outline of sorts, and the text of the House version came out on Saturday, May 18). If we were forced to choose between the two, we’d go with the Senate version because it does include a meager increase in the Organic Cost Share Reimbursement Program, raising it from $750 annually to $1,000.  

We know our farmers need at least a $1,500 cost share each year for it to really stop Georgia from losing Certified Organic farms. It also includes parts of other pieces of legislation that we will get into further below. 

There are a few other pieces of the Senate bill that benefits Organic growers, the National Organic Program, and sustainable and organic ag research. But we are hoping and working for much more. 


OUR LATEST TRIP TO DC

Georgia Organics Farmer Services Director Lauren Cox and Farmer Advocacy Director Michael Wall visited the offices of several Members of Congress on May 16 with our partners at the Organic Trade Association (OTA). In the meetings, we reminded the folks that we already knew about our farmers’ priorities, and introduced new folks to Georgia Organics and what our farmers are hoping to get out of this next Farm Bill. 

On this trip we met with staff for: 

  • Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-03) 

  • Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) 

  • Sen. Reb. Raphael Warnock (D) 

  • Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-13) 

  • Rep. Austin Scott (R-8) 

In the meetings, House Republicans liked the House version of the Bill (the House is currently run by Republicans), and Senate Democrats think their version is the better one (the Senate is currently controlled by Democrats). 

Georgia Organics Farmer Services Director Lauren Cox and Farmer Advocacy Director Michael Wall in front of the Capitol building on a windy day in mid-May, 2024. 

WHAT WE WANT FROM THE NEXT FARM BILL

Soil health through the Agriculture Resilience Act

The issue our farmers said was most important to them was soil health, and no piece of legislation addresses soil health as thoroughly as the Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA).

The ARA:  

  • Attempts to get the US agricultural system to net zero on carbon emissions and has mechanisms to go even further 

  • Requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish a national network of regional hubs for risk adaptation and mitigation to climate change 

  • Creates a soil health grant program for state and tribal governments 

  • Focuses on perennial production systems and grass-based livestock systems for its climate-focused goals 

What ar our prospects? To be perfectly honest, this is a moonshot piece of legislation that would profoundly transform how food is produced and consumed in the United States. It is extremely doubtful that this entire bill will be folded into the Farm Bill, but it is possible that one or even two of its major provisions could be adopted. That wouldn’t be as transformative, but it would be significant progress. There are a few ARA ideas in the Senate version and nothing from the ARA is the House version.  

Support for Organics and Organic transition through the Opportunities in Organics Act

The Opportunities in Organics Act (OOA) would institutionalize most of the US Department of Agriculture’s recent bursts of support for Organic transition and Organic market development. If implemented into the Farm Bill, OOA would strengthen markets and market access for existing Organic growers, and help reduce the barriers and costs for growers to transition to Organic agriculture. This work is a core piece of Georgia Organics’ longtime programming, and one we support wholeheartedly.  

Prospects: Slim. We were hoping to see much more of the OOA’s components in the Senate version. There is very little if any pieces of OOA in the House version. 

What else are we advocating for?

The Whole Farm Revenue Protection Program Improvement Act (WFRPIA), which is co-sponsored by Georgia’s Sen. Warnock, would enhance and improve access to one of the few risk management tools that was specifically designed to support diversified and Organic operations. 

So far, the Senate version doesn’t include any visible aspect of improving the Whole Farm Revenue Protection Program, but we hope that will change soon. 

Last but not least, the Continuous Improvement and Accountability in Organic Standards Act would regulate and oversee the frequency with which the USDA reviews and enacts new Organic standards and rules. Our friends at the National Organic Program don’t necessarily love this piece of legislation, and admittedly, it isn’t perfect. But it would help prevent the backlog of rulemaking that has created a gap between consumer expectations and the reality of current Organic standards. 

But wait there’s more.

Here are three more bills we hope will make their way into the text of the Farm Bill:


MORE FARMER ADVOCACY EFFORTS

 To learn more about Georgia Organics, visit georgiaorganics.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. 

Header Image: Farmer Julia Asherman of Rag & Frass Farm with Sen. Jon Ossoff’s Legislative Correspondent Caroline Li and Legistlative Director Anna Cullen, 2023.