FARM BILL MAY HURT FARMERS’ MARKETS

Despite America’s growing love for farmers’ markets, it’s looking unlikely that the Farmer Markets Promotion Program (FMPP) will be prioritized when the Farm Bill comes up for reauthorization next year. The president’s proposed 2018 budget eliminates funding for the FMPP. The program awards grants that support outreach and promotional activities that help farmers markets become self-sustaining and that can be replicated across the country. Since it was first funded in 2006, the FMPP has helped the number of farmers’ markets in the U.S. more than double from around 3,000 to over 8,600. Farmers’ markets sell around $3 billion in food annually, including nearly $20 million redeemed by SNAP shoppers.

Source: Civil Eats, 10/30/17, Farmers' Markets in Trouble

FARM BILL DYNAMICS

The Farm Bill expires on Sept. 30, 2018. Passing a new bill in the next year will require a coalition that cuts across parties and regions. But the bill’s trillion-dollar size produce plenty of critics who create fault lines that could derail the bill, which is currently being drafted by the House and Senate agriculture committees. One of those fault lines is the urban-rural coalition of farm-state Republicans (who back farm subsidies) and urban Democrats (who protect SNAP). But rural Republican support is no longer automatic. House Freedom Caucus members have backed deep cuts to the program in budget resolutions. Work requirements and other means of tightening the program, all billed as ways to ensure that SNAP aid is targeted to the most deserving, will divide GOP support. Some Democrats are more absolutist on SNAP than others. Pragmatists, including the ranking Democrats of both the House and Senate agriculture committees, will tolerate some changes to the rules to get a bill through. More strident advocates resist any reductions. This division weakens the Democrats’ united front. And the food stamp community itself has divisions. Many nutritionists support dietary restrictions for SNAP use as a way to encourage better eating. But the big grocers that support SNAP don't want those rules, which complicate business and could cut into sales.

Source: Bloomberg, 11/2/17, Farm Bill Dynamics

SENATE BUDGET HELPS FOOD PROGRAMS

The fiscal 2018 budget that the Senate passed last week could make moot the $10 billion in cuts to agriculture programs that were in the House version - a move that makes passage of the next farm bill easier. Backers of SNAP had been bracing for the prospect that the House spending cuts would be squarely aimed at welfare programs including food stamps. But the Senate version does not include the $203 billion in spending reductions the House had incorporated. The House and Senate need to pass identical budgets if Republicans want to fast-track the budget and avoid hammering out differences in the two versions over weeks and weeks in conference committee. There is a lot of pressure on the House to adopt the Senate version so that lawmakers can get onto the business of tax reform.  But SNAP may still be in bull's-eye: For instance, Rep. Mark Walker - who supports the House's proposed cuts to welfare and entitlement programs - asked GOP leaders to commit to separate votes on a balanced budget amendment and other deficit-reduction legislation.

Source: Politico, 10/23/17, Senate Budget

FUNDING WILL DROP FOR NEXT FARM BILL

Agriculture lawmakers are on track to have about $130 billion less in funding for the next farm bill than they did when they wrote the last law. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that farm and nutrition programs would cost about $822 billion over a decade, or $679 billion for SNAP and $143 billion for commodity subsidies, crop insurance, conservation and other ag programs. In 2014, the CBO estimated that the final version of the farm bill would cost $956 billion over a decade. Some of the prospective cuts are based on actual program spending results since 2014.

SNAP, for example, cost about $359 billion over the past 5 years, or nearly $32 billion less than originally estimated by the CBO just before the 2014 farm bill was passed.

Source: Politico, 7/5/17, Farm Bill Cuts

FARM BILL COULD ADDRESS FOOD WASTE

Government agencies such as the USDA and the EPA set a goal in 2015 to reduce food waste by half by the year 2030. A new report by the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic suggests that the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill presents Congress with an opportunity to prioritize the topic of food waste, identifying four areas of focus: food waste reduction, food recovery and redistribution, food waste recycling, and food waste reduction administration. The report recommends modifying existing legislation, or creating new legislation, that will allocate funding to create awareness about food waste and incentivize behavior. Among their proposals, the report’s authors call for federally standardized quality and safety labeling and providing funds to educate and incentivize elementary and secondary schools, huge sources of food waste at more than 360,000 tons of wasted food per year; and grants to support state and local efforts of organic waste bans and waste prevention plans, as well as provide financial support for recycling infrastructure and technology.

Source: FoodTank, 5/17/, Food Waste

FARM BILL WILL BE BACK ON THE TABLE SOON

Last week, food and agriculture policy experts met to discuss the 2018 Farm Bill. The discussion was hosted by AGree, a bipartisan food policy organization supported by eight of the largest food and ag-focused foundations. One key topic of conversation was the future of SNAP, which like other nutrition programs are funded through the Farm Bill and account for about 75% of its spending ($89 billion in 2016). Republican legislators have in the past proposed removing SNAP from the Farm Bill and converting it to a block grant. Several participants at the AGree event seemed confident that the SNAP program wouldn’t experience major cuts, let alone block-granting. But Eric Mitchell, from the anti-hunger advocacy organization Bread for the World, was more skeptical. He expressed concern that the Republican Congress might still pursue block-granting SNAP, even against the wishes of agriculture groups, and noted that several powerful Republicans have supported a move to block grants, including House Agriculture Committee chair Mike Conaway and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Source: Civil Eats, 2/8/17, Farm Bill