Ag Market Aid Talks Reach Stalemate in Congress

Agri-Pulse’s Philip Brasher reported over the weekend that “negotiations over a package of market relief assistance for farmers reached an impasse Saturday after Democratic leaders rejected the latest GOP proposal, and several major farm groups called on lawmakers to oppose a stopgap spending bill if the economic aid is omitted.”

“The Republican proposal failed to address a key priority for Democrats – rolling Inflation Reduction Act funding into the farm bill to permanently increase spending levels for conservation programs, a Democratic source said,” Brasher reported. “…The dispute increases the prospect that lawmakers, at best, can only pass a straight one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill before the end of the year. A farm bill extension was supposed to be included with a continuing resolution that Congress needs to pass by Friday to keep the government funded.”

“The farm groups that announced opposition to a CR that lacks ag market relief included the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Association of Wheat Growers, American Soybean Association, USA Rice and National Cotton Council,” Brasher reported.

Many Ag Groups Voice Opposition to Funding Without Farmer Aid

Brasher reported in a different article this past weekend that “after leaders of the House and Senate Ag committees announced Saturday morning that a stalemate had been reached on the aid package, one farm group after another issued statements in opposition to passing a continuing resolution to keep the government funded unless it includes the market relief for row crop producers.”

“Passing the legislation without the economic assistance ‘would fall far short of what is needed to ensure the survival of thousands of producers across the country,’ said Chuck Conner, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives,” Brasher reported. “Kenneth Hartman Jr., president of the National Corn Growers Association, said, ‘We are deeply disappointed that congressional leadership appears to be at an impasse over crucial economic assistance for farmers in an end-of-the-year legislative package. … While these developments are disheartening, we call on Congress to resume negotiations and pass legislation that includes economic assistance while there is still time.'”

As the nation’s largest lender to agriculture, Farm Credit urges Congress to include meaningful economic and disaster assistance for agriculture in the continuing resolution.

The reported one-year extension of the Farm Bill without additional assistance is unacceptable.… pic.twitter.com/T8xPvRQFMY

— Farm Credit System (@farmcredit) December 15, 2024

“Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, said any legislation ‘that does not include both economic and disaster assistance for our farmers who have suffered significantly from unforgiving market conditions, disastrous weather phenomena and for many, a combination of both, simply does not meet the mark for what agriculture and specifically, our soy growers, need,'” Brasher reported.

Ag Aid Impasse Could Threaten Overall Funding Bill

Politico’s Meredith Lee Hill reported on Sunday that “Speaker Mike Johnson is facing a brewing rebellion from farm district Republicans after congressional leaders failed to secure an agreement to add economic aid for farmers to the next stop-gap spending bill.”

“The threat of a new wave of GOP defections among farm district Republicans presents a fresh challenge for Johnson, who is already navigating a narrow majority and opposition from his own right flank as he tries to fund the government before a shutdown Dec. 21. And it will likely force the speaker to find more Democratic votes before the current funding runs out Friday,” Lee Hill reported.

“GOP leaders have told lawmakers that Johnson wants to pass the entire funding measure and disaster package together, via suspension, according to two other people familiar with the matter. But that process requires a two-thirds majority, making the ag state Republicans’ votes even more critical,” Lee Hill reported.

Brasher reported that “House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., and the top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, John Boozman of Arkansas, issued a joint statement Saturday morning saying they could not support the legislation if the economic aid is left out. ‘The failure to include economic assistance will have devastating and lasting consequences on our farm families, the rural communities in which they live and American agriculture. For that reason, we intend to oppose any supplemental spending package that does not provide meaningful assistance to our farmers,’ the lawmakers said.”

“Republicans in agriculture-heavy states and some Democrats have warned about a crippling economic crisis hitting rural America, which overwhelmingly supported Trump in the last election,” Lee Hill reported. “Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.) said the farm aid ‘needs to be a part of any end of year actions.’ ‘U.S. farmers across our nation are simply at the end of their debt and equity resources,’ Duarte said.”