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Blog | June 13, 2024

The Latest Updates on the Farm Bill

Understanding the farm bill.

The Farm Bill is a huge, complex piece of legislation (as our Farm Bill 101 makes clear) and its path through Congress will be filled with twists and turns. We’re closely following this journey, looking at how the proposed bills in the House and Senate will impact farmers, eaters, and residents of rural communities. Over the coming months, Farm Aid will keep this post updated with the latest news on the Farm Bill and opportunities to speak up to improve it.

Agriculture appropriations process begins again while future of farm bill remains uncertain

June 13, 2024.

On Monday, June 11, the House Appropriations Committee released their proposed funding bill for the 2025 fiscal year. Appropriations bills are passed annually and determine how much funding different parts of the federal government receive. The Agriculture Appropriations bill determines how much funding USDA and important agriculture programs receive. Disappointingly, the House’s proposed funding bill makes spending cuts – cutting total funding by 3.6% from 2024 – to every Farm Aid priority program, cuts SNAP funding and includes very harmful “riders” (unrelated policies tacked onto a spending bill.) Among these riders are measures to eliminate protections for small meat and poultry producers against large companies, prohibit equity, diversity and inclusion programs at the USDA, and allows individuals and organizations to discriminate against LGBTQIA+ people on the basis of “sincerely held religious beliefs.” The proposed bill passed along party lines over the course of a very quick 30-minute vote. The bill will be brought to the whole House for a vote in July.

Meanwhile, on June 12, Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee released a very general framework for their version of a Senate farm bill. The summary lacks any specific funding details and is a very high-level overview, but at first glance appears to be very similar to the House’s Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 (otherwise known as the farm bill) that passed in May. The move could signal that there is momentum building in the Senate around an effort to pass a farm bill before the end of the year.

May 29, 2024

House agriculture committee passes farm bill markup.

After more than thirteen hours of “mark-up” on Thursday, May 23rd, the House Agriculture Committee passed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 (HR 8467) – their version of the farm bill. The bill passed with 33 votes for and 21 against, with four Democratic members of Congress, Representatives Caraveo (D-CO), Sorensen (D-IL), Davis (D-NC) and Bishop (D-GA), joining with Republicans in favor.

Over 50 amendments to the draft were proposed and considered during the mark-up process. Notably, Democrats had proposed amendments that would restore mandatory climate mitigation requirements to Inflation Reduction Act funding and establish funding for climate-smart practices within conservation programs; nullify the cost-neutrality provision on the Thrifty Food Plan (a cost-cutting measure that would negatively impact SNAP funding); and would strike the restrictions on using Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds, allowing USDA to respond to unexpected agricultural events and emerging issues. These amendments all failed to be included in the final bill text in votes that fell along party lines. One amendment, filed by Congressman Greg Cesar (D-TX), would have required USDA to stop contracting with meatpackers that use illegal child labor, but was rejected by Republicans who voted to initiate a government study on child labor instead.

Some notable amendments and policy changes made it into the final bill text; this legislation would raise reference prices , increase sustainable aviation fuel strategy, and weaken pesticide regulations. Commodity crops — peanuts rice, wheat, and cotton — receive the highest subsidy increases under the House’s farm bill.

Though the passage of the markup means that the House version of the farm bill is now ready to be voted on by the whole House, lots of uncertainty remains over when the bill will actually be brought to the floor.

HR 8467 marks the first meaningful step in passing the next farm bill, even though the process began more than a year ago. While this bill is deeply flawed, it’s an important jumping off point from which to begin the next phase of farm bill negotiations. The next step will be for the Senate Agriculture Committee to release its version of a farm bill and to follow the same mark-up and committee voting process. Stay tuned for more updates!

May 22, 2024

House agriculture committee releases disappointing and partisan 2024 farm bill draft.

On Friday, May 17th, the House Agriculture Committee released its “mark,” or draft, of the 2024 Farm Bill. The nearly 1,000-page draft contained very few of Farm Aid’s priorities. By far, the bill reflected the interests of large scale industrial producers instead of helping to level the playing field for and supporting small and mid-size farmers.

The bill crosses several “red lines,” including removing climate change mitigation requirements from Inflation Reduction Act funding and cutting SNAP benefits. From the very beginning of Farm Bill conversations, Democrats have said these two issues are non-starters and they will not support a farm bill that includes these attempts to defund climate change efforts and curb nutrition programs.

Rather than increasing access to credit and crop insurance for small-scale operations and farmers working in diverse systems, the bill doubles down on support for large scale, industrial commodity operations – a group who already disproportionately benefits from agricultural subsidies. Additionally, the bill chooses to focus on funding precision agriculture technology over proven, farmer-led conservation practices. The bill also restricts the USDA’s ability to utilize the Commodity Credit Corporation, limiting its ability respond to emerging agricultural issues. While Republicans’ aim is to reduce spending in the Farm Bill, a budget score has not been conducted that measures how the bill will pay for its subsidies, making this draft difficult to fully assess.

The House Agriculture Committee will “mark-up,” or edit the bill on Thursday, May 23rd and vote on whether it will pass out of the committee to be voted on by the whole House. Currently, the Senate Agriculture Committee has not indicated when it will release its own draft of the farm bill.

Stay tuned for ways you can get involved in the Farm Bill process and for updates as they arise!

May 3, 2024

House and senate release 2024 farm bill proposal summaries.

In a surprise to many, the House and Senate agriculture committees released summaries of their respective farm bill proposals this week, indicating that we may see full farm bill drafts from both chambers imminently and potentially some new progress towards passing the 2024 Farm Bill.

These summaries are akin to getting a “sneak peak” into what a 2024 Farm Bill might look like; based on its summary , we can probably expect a largely bipartisan bill from the Senate that aligns with many of Farm Aid’s values, including preserving IRA climate funding and improving the farm safety net . Meanwhile, the House Agriculture Committee’s summary indicates a very different and much more partisan bill.

The contents of neither bill is certain, however, until full drafts are released. The timeline for the release of House and Senate farm bill drafts is still unknown.

March 11, 2024

Usda appropriations is complete farm bill still unknown.

YAY: Over the weekend, President Biden signed into law a $460 billion appropriations bill with funding through Sept. 30 for the USDA and five other federal departments. The bill finally provides full-year funding after four stopgap bills. Funding for the rest of the federal government depends on members of the House and Senate meeting the next deadline of March 22.

While Congress struggles to agree on how to fund the rest of the federal government more than five months into the fiscal year, President Biden today unveiled his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025. His proposal includes a significant increase in Agriculture Department funding—an increase of 7.4% from the 2023 level. Alas, the President’s budget is largely symbolic, setting forth the values and priorities of his administration. It is Congress who will ultimately decide the 2025 budget—hopefully without the delay that continues to plague the 2024 budget.

NAY: Unfortunately, there is no such movement on the Farm Bill. Congress is as divisive as ever and some members have expressed uncertainty that a new reauthorization could pass this year. While President Biden touted the value of agriculture in last week’s State of the Union address, he did not explicitly call on Congress to pass the Farm Bill, disappointing many.

February 22, 2024

Appropriations drag, farm bill progress lags.

Since passing yet another set of continuing resolutions that keep the government funded through March 1st, Congress has kept dragging out the appropriations process. At this point, the passage of appropriations bills has taken so long that they’re starting to butt up against 2025 fiscal year budget-setting. What’s the hold-up? Spending levels are largely ironed out, so it’s the inclusion of policy riders, like the harmful rider that House Republicans and special interests included on the House FY 2024 Agriculture and FDA bill , that remain the primary hurdles. Failure to find agreement by March 1st will either force a partial government shutdown or necessitate yet another continuing resolution.

Once again, the dragging out of appropriations is leaving little room for Farm Bill progress and is shortening the window for action in March. Coupled with a very tight congressional calendar – Congress is in session March 11th through June 28th before summer break – there’s effectively only a late-spring window of several weeks to bring to the floor, debate, and pass the next Farm Bill. Though much of the Farm Bill is currently drafted, it is far from finished and money is the main barrier in continued progress. Namely, Republicans and Democrats are dug in on their respective priorities: commodity programs versus Inflation Reduction Act funding and nutrition programs. Policy experts guess that if Congress doesn’t pass a Farm Bill before the end of June, we’ll likely see it kicked down the road until after the 2024 elections.

January 9, 2024

New year, same problems.

Congress is back in session for the new year, facing the same challenges they left before heading on break in December. Namely, a partial government shutdown could happen as of January 20th if the House and Senate can’t agree on spending for the 2024 fiscal year.

As of January 7th, congressional leaders had agreed on an overall budget for funding the government; now they must write the legislation required to fund different government agencies, including the USDA. If Congress can’t agree on these individual appropriations packages and instead choose to pass a continuing resolution, as happened in November, many government agencies will see funding cuts.

Democratic leadership has indicated that it will stand fast in opposing any harmful policy riders, while far-right GOP members expressed outrage at the topline budget agreement, meaning that negotiations will continue to be fraught. Congress has less than two weeks to pass four appropriations bills. As these budget negotiations continue, progress on the next farm bill remains stagnant, with a best-case scenario for the bill’s introduction in March.

November 16, 2023

Congress passes farm bill extension.

On November 15th, the Senate voted to pass a House bill for a continuing resolution, which included an extension of the 2018 Farm Bill. The bill extends the farm bill through September 2024. President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law.

This bill not only averts a government shutdown, but also includes funding for almost all “orphan” programs that would have otherwise lost funding as of January 1st. The extension gives Congress an additional 10 months to pass a new farm bill. Despite this longer runway, there is still lots to be negotiated. Legislators still need to decide how IRA funding will be distributed as well as funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), two extremely contentious issues. It’s expected that Congress will use this extension to present a draft of a new farm bill early next year.

November 14, 2023

Congress poised to extend 2018 farm bill.

The 2018 farm bill expired on September 30th, meaning as of October 1st, many programs lost funding and/or legal authorization to operate. The full effects of the expired bill will be felt on January 1st, 2024 unless an extension or new legislation is passed. Between a dragged out appropriations process and a prolonged struggle to determine House leadership, Congress has had little time to make headway on the next farm bill.

In October, Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow publicly called for Congress to extend the current farm bill, rather than passing a new one. However, House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson expressed caution around if, and how, the farm bill should be extended. But an extension may be Congress’s best choice, given the unresolved appropriations process and a potential government shutdown on November 17th.

On November 11th, House Speaker Mike Johnson revealed a plan to introduce a stopgap measure that would avert a government shutdown and extend the current farm bill through September 2024. Crucially, this plan was conceived in part by House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders, who included funding for the 20 programs “orphaned” when the 2018 Farm Bill expired.

This plan is far from a done deal, however, as some GOP members oppose the stopgap measure and may try to leverage the farm bill, and especially SNAP funding, as part of larger government shutdown negotiation.

July 18, 2023

Congress heads into last session before august recess.

On June 22nd, the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2024 agriculture appropriations bill, unanimously and with bipartisan approval. Compared to the House Appropriations Committee bill passed the week prior, this bill did not contain the same deep cuts to spending on research, nutrition, and other important programs. It also did not include the same rider that limited the Packers and Stockyards Act as the House Appropriations bill.

The Senate bill set spending at $500 million more than last year, with increases primarily to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. The next step is for the two chambers of Congress to reconcile, or come to an agreement between the two bills, a process that will likely prove difficult given the vast differences between them and the control that far right Republicans have on the House.

Congress resumes their work this week, which will be their last session before August recess. This will be a final opportunity for legislators to introduce “marker bills,” bills that are not intended to pass, but that allow legislators to put forward their priorities within the Farm Bill and get a feel for their support.

Congress will likely put forward a first draft of the 2023 Farm Bill when they are back in September. Stay tuned for more updates!

May 18, 2023

Bill with drastic cuts moves forward.

The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee passed an agriculture appropriations bill. We were disappointed to see that it drastically cut agricultural funding by 30% ($8.3 billion) for the 2024 fiscal year budget as compared to 2023. This bill passed out of subcommittee along party lines. Next up, the House Appropriations Committee will markup the bill. This step was supposed to occur the week of May 22, but has been delayed due to ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.

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October 18th, 2023 By Tim Fink

Growing Opportunity in the Next Farm Bill  

Right now, the future of agriculture is at a critical crossroads as Congress writes a Farm Bill that will shape our nation’s farm and food policy for the next five years. Building upon its on-the-ground programmatic work and partnerships nationwide, American Farmland Trust (AFT) has spent years listening to farmers, ranchers, and many other stakeholders to develop a holistic policy agenda for this precise moment. These policies will protect more farmland, help farmers and ranchers adopt and maintain conservation practices, and expand opportunities for a diverse new generation of producers.   

We believe everyone has a stake in building a resilient farm and food system. And as Congress enters challenging negotiations and makes difficult trade-offs, now is the best time to take action to help make a Farm Bill for the future .  

Helping a New, Diverse Generation Access Land  

The largest barrier that many aspiring farmers and ranchers face is accessing affordable farmland. Since 2019, the average farm real estate value has gone up nearly 30 percent. This is even more drastic in some parts of the country – in the Northern Plains, for example, land values have shot up nearly 50 percent in just four years.    

With agricultural land at record prices—and steep competition from investors, established farmers, and solar and real estate developers—many young, beginning, and historically marginalized producers struggle to access land. At the same time, many senior farmers and farmland owners have no identified successors. With so many farmers and ranchers nearing retirement, our food system depends upon a new generation taking the reins.   

A new bipartisan, bicameral “marker” bill (meaning the bill was introduced with the hope that it will be included in the Farm Bill, rather than being passed by itself) would tackle this challenge head-on. The Land Access, Security, and Opportunities Act would permanently establish and fund a program similar to one piloted by USDA this year specifically dedicated to supporting land access. If included in the Farm Bill, it would expand funding for community-based projects to help young, beginning, and BIPOC producers access land, capital, and markets, with services including succession planning, down payment support, business and financial planning, and heirs’ property issues.   

Protecting our Best Farm and Ranch Land   

Over 2,000 acres of productive agricultural land are converted or fragmented by development every single day. In the first 15 years of the 21st century alone, over 11 million acres of agricultural land were lost or threatened by development. If nothing is done, AFT research projects the U.S. to lose an additional 18.4 million acres by 2040. This research does not even account for the rapid expansion of U.S. solar development, much of which is projected to occur on productive farmland.     

The federal government has a key role in ensuring that this loss of land does not become a reality. The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) is the only federal program focused on permanently protecting agricultural land. However, significant barriers hinder its ability to assist landowners who seek to protect their land for future generations. A partnership of national organizations, land trusts, and state protection of agricultural conservation easement programs has put together recommendations to improve ACEP for both landowners and partners.  

These recommendations would also help improve land access. Agricultural conservation easements can make land more affordable for current and aspiring producers. In addition, the ACEP recommendations include changes to enable more land trusts to buy land, place it under permanent protection, and target its sale (so-called “Buy-Protect-Sell” projects) to new producers.   

Creating an Office of Small Farms

Although all farms must contend with issues such as extreme weather, inflation, and supply chain disruptions, the reality is that not all farms are equally equipped to deal with these challenges. Small farms have fewer resources to draw upon than their larger neighbors. The pandemic starkly illustrated how essential these farms are to local and regional food access and our rural economies, food security, and community resilience. In fact, small acreage farms—those with fewer than 180 acres—represent 70 percent of all farms in the U.S.    

Despite their importance to our rural communities, small-acreage farms face unique challenges, and many struggle to access USDA programs that are too often designed to be one-size-fits-all. For instance, farm relief programs have not always taken into account the fact that many small farms receive premium prices—rather than traditional commodity market prices—for selling local or producing value-added or organic products. Such farms also do not have the benefit of distributing costs or losses over many acres.   

It’s clear that small-scale producers need a new approach. Another marker bill, the bicameral Office of Small Farms Establishment Act , would help level the playing field by creating a new office within USDA tasked with ensuring that these farms can access the full suite of essential USDA programs, services, and support. Such a step in the next Farm Bill could be transformational.   

Enabling Farmers to Help Each Other Adopt Conservation Practices  

Finally, more must be done to support producers in building resilience to a changing climate. Conservation practices like cover crops, conservation tillage, and rotational grazing help shield farmers from the impacts of extreme weather events and are critical to building the soil and maintaining profitability. They also help society by improving water quality and increasing carbon sequestration.   

While the Farm Bill programs administered by USDA play an essential role in providing financial and technical support to help producers adopt these practices, they also leave gaps and do not always result in practices being continued beyond the initial contract period. There is no better or more trusted source of information to support the successful, long-term adoption of new conservation practices than other farmers.   

Farmer-to-farmer information exchange and mentoring already happens naturally – both informally along the fence line or at the coffee shop and formally at field days and demonstration sites. However, the sustained information exchange that is necessary for transformative change is rare and hard to find. The bipartisan Farmer to Farmer Education Act would enable more farmers to benefit from the experience, innovation, and leadership of other producers by increasing the visibility and capacity of existing farmer-led education networks and helping to establish new ones.   

Such networks are especially important to reaching and serving historically marginalized communities, some of whom are hesitant to work directly with the federal government given past experiences. Ensuring that farmers can support other farmers is all the more critical as USDA continues to award increased conservation funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Time to Act is NOW  

If included in the next Farm Bill, these policies would expand opportunities, increase resilience, and help enable a new, diverse generation of farmers and ranchers to succeed. As Congress writes a new Farm Bill in a challenging political and budgetary environment, we need your voice.  You could be the difference between whether these important policies are included or are left on the cutting room floor .   

Now is the time to address the most pressing issues facing farmers, ranchers, and rural communities today. Please join us in making your voice heard !  

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Why the U.S. Farm Bill Matters

Duke experts share how a key piece of legislation may affect climate change

In addition to supporting farmers, conservation and food programs, the next U.S. farm bill can play a significant role in combatting climate change, say Duke experts, who note that agriculture generates about 11% of the nation’s greenhouse gases.

Congress is expected to take up reauthorization of the farm bill sometime this year, most likely after the Sept. 30 deadline, according to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “The way that the farm bill addresses climate is through the conservation and energy titles, or programs, which represent over 10% of farm bill expenditures,” says Norbert Wilson , a professor of food, economics and community at Duke Divinity School.

“Beginning in the 1985 farm bill, the conservation title protects soil, water and other natural resources and limits the environmental impact of production on private lands,” said Wilson, who also directs the World Food Policy Center at Duke.

“The conservation title received a big boost through the Inflation Reduction Act and will invest nearly $20 billion in conservation programs and provide guard rails to support the conservation titles in future farm bills.”

Last reauthorized in 2018, the Farm Bill remains one of the most significant and comprehensive pieces of legislation affecting American agriculture and rural communities.

The legislation was originally signed into law in 1933 to provide a safety net for farmers, ensure a reliable food supply and protect against soil loss in the wake of the Dust Bowl.

Today other provisions of the farm bill include support for food assistance, programs and policies that help farmers manage risk, and agricultural research. The supplemental nutrition assistance program, or SNAP, formally the food stamp program, is the largest component of the Farm Bill, representing 84% of the expenditures, Wilson said.

Climate change is expected to boost the frequency and duration of droughts, leading to declines in agriculture production. But Wilson said agriculture offers opportunities for carbon sequestration as a tool to help combat the problems.

Elements of academic research are also affected by the farm bill, said Duke biology professor Lucia Strader .

“Investment in research is one of the best possible returns on investment that the federal government can make. For U.S. agriculture, there's a $20 return on investment for every dollar spent on research and development. It's an amazing return,” she said during a briefing for congressional staff earlier this year hosted by the Duke in DC office.

“These funds allow for leveraging of state and county dollars that really allow for research and development to improve agriculture and allow for the rapid response to emerging conditions like, for example, here in North Carolina, there is emergence of new nematodes are affecting food productivity.”

Law professor Michelle Nowlin , co-director of the Environmental Law Policy Clinic at Duke, told a DC briefing audience that “it's really impossible for us to address climate change, or more generally environmental quality in the U.S., without addressing agricultural production. Because as much as 50% of the land in the lower 48 states is presently in agricultural production.” She added that 40% to 50% of the nation's methane emissions, and 60% to 80% of the nation's nitrous oxide emissions, are estimated to come from agricultural production -- methane primarily from intensive feedlots, and nitrous oxide from common manure, fertilizer application and manure management methods.

“And I'd like to note that these are estimates because there is an appropriations rider that has prevented EPA from collecting and analyzing emissions data from the agricultural sector for the last 10 years or more,” Nowlin said.

“This is a vicious cycle, that contemporary agricultural practices contribute to greenhouse gas emissions because agriculture is uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change through drought, catastrophic storms, flooding, increased heat and humidity in many regions, and changing and unpredictable weather patterns that affect planting and harvesting.”

Nowlin added that without improvements to agricultural practices that keep pace with these weather stresses, the USDA has predicted that crop yields will decline in coming years, which in turn will strain budgets for disaster assistance.

“We believe that in the 2023 Farm Bill, Congress has the potential to counteract the harm caused by certain agricultural practices and ensure that agriculture is part of the climate solution moving forward, and it can also make farms more resilient to the impacts of climate change.”

April 24, 2023

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September 13, 2023

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To Achieve Food Security for All, Build Trust With Communities

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What is America’s farm bill, and why does it matter?

It has transformed the agriculture industry and given millions of americans food security.

T HE FARM BILL may not sound like a piece of legislation most Americans should care about. The enormous spending package, which is due for reauthorisation on September 30th, includes funding for eradicating feral swine and marketing sheep. Yet by transforming the farming industry it has helped millions of Americans to afford food . Why is the farm bill so important, and what will happen if it is not, as seems almost certain, renewed on time?

Franklin Roosevelt passed the first farm bill in 1933, during the Great Depression. Farmers had been suffering for longer than most. During the first world war, as Europe’s demand for imports grew, America’s government had offered them loans to encourage them to increase production. But in the 1920s demand for American imports fell and prices plummeted. By the 1930s severe drought was exacerbating the strain. Many farmers went bankrupt. The Agricultural Adjustment Act paid landowners subsidies to cover losses on the sale of their crops and encouraged farmers to produce less. The bill is updated by Congress every five years: there have been 18 versions and the legislation has grown ever broader.

Today the bill’s biggest beneficiaries are not farmers, but America’s poor . Funding for nutrition programmes was added in 1973, and now eats up 76% of its spending. That share is expected to rise to 84% in the upcoming bill, according to forecasts by the Congressional Research Service, a government-research body. Most of this funding goes towards food stamps , which more than 41m Americans—12% of the population—use each month. Nutrition funding tends to be a sticking point when the bill is renewed. Republicans, who baulk at what they see as government largesse, often try to redirect its funding into other parts of the bill; such attempts have been met with fierce resistance from Democrats.

The next biggest chunk of spending goes towards crop insurance for landowners, which is paid out if certain crops are damaged or if prices fall. This benefits big farms and rich investors, who own swathes of land and can therefore grow more. The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organisation, reckons that 27% of the $478bn paid out between 1995 and 2021 went to the top 1% of recipients.

Critics argue that payouts incentivise the overproduction of crops that are insured under the act, such as corn and soybeans. Rather than being turned directly into food, these are mostly used as animal feed or in the production of biofuels. That is not only bad for food security, but can encourage unsustainable practices to maximise acreage and yield. Some think the money would be better spent on conservation, which is also funded under the act.

This year’s farm bill is expected to cost $1.5trn over the next decade, which would make it the most expensive yet. With Congress squabbling over the federal budget, and the government careering towards a potential shutdown, agreement is unlikely before the September 30th deadline.

With luck, the food-assistance programmes, at least, will be extended through an appropriations act. But if the bill is not authorised by December 31st, another problem looms: its subsidies will revert back to “permanent” laws that are over eight decades old. Some crops insured by the current bill would cease to be covered. And rather than paying farmers to cover losses, the government would be compelled to buy crops to raise prices, which would hurt consumers. Dairy would be the first commodity to revert to permanent law: the price of milk would need to rise by 162% to reach the level set out in legislation, which is based on parity prices from the 1910s. Turning back the clock would be ludicrous and in no one’s interest. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat and chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, says she is hopeful that the bill will pass by the end of the year. For now, sit tight. ■

Editor’s note (September 30th 2023): An earlier version of this article included a reference to farmland owned by Bill Gates. As Mr Gates leases out most of his land, he does not benefit from landowners’ crop insurance.

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Robert B. Semple Jr.

America Has a Chance to Make Farming More Climate Friendly

By Robert B. Semple Jr.

Mr. Semple, a reporter and an editor for The Times from 1963 to 2018, writes about the environment for the editorial board. He won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1996.

In an age defined by technology, we tend to take farmers for granted. Yet farmland continues to dominate the American landscape. An astonishing number of acres — close to 900 million , more than half of the contiguous United States — are devoted to agricultural production of one sort or another. A lot of it is for the grains, fruits and vegetables we eat but also, and more fatefully for the climate, for the grazing and feeding of animals.

According to official figures from the Environmental Protection Agency, agriculture is responsible for about one-tenth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, chiefly methane from the digestive systems of animals, as well as nitrous oxide, another powerful greenhouse gas, from lavish use of synthetic fertilizer. That’s less than the emissions from transportation (28 percent), electric power (25 percent) and industry (23 percent). But agricultural emissions are hard to measure and are almost certainly underestimated. Add in the fossil fuels used in farming equipment, the loss of carbon stored in soil when grasslands and native vegetation are converted to crops and the methane from manure deposited in lagoons and slurries in big animal feeding operations, and the climate footprint gets bigger.

But so, too, does the opportunity to make a difference. That’s why the architects of last year’s giant Inflation Reduction Act included $19.5 billion aimed at shrinking that footprint by greatly increasing the money available to farmers under the Agriculture Department’s conservation programs. Dollarwise, that’s not a big deal, a sliver of the $350 billion or so the bill invests in encouraging adoption of clean power, energy-efficient buildings and electric vehicles.

But philosophically, it’s a very big deal because for the first time, legislators have firmly acknowledged the reality of the link between climate change and agriculture and have taken a major step in making sure that American agriculture policy has a climate lens. To that end, they have included climate-focused guardrails in the text of the bill — language ensuring that the $19.5 billion will be spent exclusively on efforts to “reduce, capture, avoid or sequester carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide emissions.”

Meet the People Getting Paid to Kill Our Planet

American agriculture is ravaging the air, soil and water. but a powerful lobby has cleverly concealed its damage..

I get it. You’re angry. “Go home!” The oil companies lied to us for years to line their pockets. Our leaders talk tough and act weak, telling us to recycle more, as if that’s going to make a difference. “Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.” You recycle? Great. Drink through paper straws and join protests? Go you. But all your anger at politicians and big oil — it’s ignoring a major polluter, a web of industries churning out at least one third of all greenhouse gas emissions around the world, a system that’s polluting our water and degrading our soil. “I want to be blunt with you. I’m very frustrated that the incredible climate movement in America doesn’t talk enough about food.” Yeah, it’s our food system. And a big part of that is agriculture, the industry that farms your food. And in the United States, it’s a significant polluter. Annual emissions? About the same as 143 million cars. Annual profits? About $116 billion. Environmental regulation? Very little. So keep being angry about power plants and planes and plastic straws, but you’re missing a huge piece of the story. “You cannot solve the climate problem unless you fix the American and global food systems.” It’s time to tell that story, and it begins on a farm. Ah, American farming. Young, honest, hardworking families at one with nature bringing forth plentiful bounty using ancient techniques. It’s hard to imagine this being bad for the planet. [ENGINE TURNING OVER] It’s time to ditch your view of the farm. During the last hundred years, the number of farms has plummeted, but their size has soared. Today, much of your food is produced on a small number of very large farms. They look like this and this. “It’s really hard to call many of these places farms.” Yeah. If anything, they’re — “ — much more akin to a factory than they are to anything like a farm.” Meet Peter Lehner. He’s an attorney with an unusual client. “Yes, I’m a lawyer, and my client is planet Earth.” We could go on for hours about all the harmful ways industrial farming is turning up planet Earth’s thermostat. But there are three consequences you really should know about. First, plowing and tilling. That releases carbon dioxide from the soil, as if we needed any more of that floating about. Second, fertilizing the crops. That’s a big source of nitrous oxide, a nasty greenhouse gas. And third, the cattle. More specifically, their burps, a major source of methane. Now methane doesn’t linger as long in the atmosphere as, say, CO₂. But you should know it’s potent stuff. “A bullet doesn’t last a long time, but it can have a big impact.” It’s not just their burps. Industrial farms have so many animals producing so much waste, they have to wash it into these ponds. “That lake is a manure lagoon.” Cue more methane. Oh, and this manure sometimes seeps into nearby streams and rivers. “Toledo’s water supply contaminated because of this algae bloom in Lake Erie caused by runoff from farms and livestock pens.” “Putting poop into our drinking water.” [RECORD SCRATCH] “I don’t know if you want to say that, but that’s what it’s going, what it’s doing.” Now humans have been farming for millennia, but never at such an industrial scale. You probably don’t live near a farm, and maybe you’ve never been on one. But from up here, it’s clear America basically is a farm. Agriculture uses much of the country’s land and a lot of its water. And in some places, it’s still expanding. In 2019 alone, another 2.6 million acres of North American grassland became farmland. Acres of land that were once storing greenhouse gases are now pumping them out. “Industrial agriculture today is one of the largest sources of water pollution in the U.S., one of the largest sources of air pollution, one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas pollution.” And get this. The five biggest meat and dairy producers in the world together produce more emissions than ExxonMobil, Shell or BP. And if all the cattle in the world were a country, it would be the second-biggest greenhouse gas polluter after China. The stakes couldn’t be higher. But wait, did someone say steak? Given all this, why aren’t we angry about the agriculture industry in this country? Why, when we think of climate change, do we think of big oil, not big ag; Exxon and not Tyson? Well, don’t beat yourself up. A lot of people have spent a long time, not to mention a huge amount of money, to hide the environmental harm of industrial farming. It’s time you met the big ag lobby, one of the most powerful influences on policy in America. Just how powerful? “Well, how many vegans do you know?” This is Jennifer Jacquet. She’s been investigating the ag lobby. Along with Peter, she’s going to pry open the lid for us on how the lobby works. And now our story moves from a farm to a hill. You don’t have to walk far around Washington, D.C., to find a group lobbying for big ag. There are loads of organizations, all of them within a taxi ride of Congress. But if you remember just one, make it — “The American Farm Bureau Federation.” “They are a force to be reckoned with.” Run these days by this guy, Zippy Duvall, a man with friends in high places. “Where’s Zippy? Zippy? Zippy? Hi, Zippy. What a good name.” Now, some argue lobbying is an important part of the democratic process. But when we started digging into the big ag lobby, we discovered it’s basically — “The most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. They’re phenomenally powerful.” Big farming corporations are making huge profits at the planet’s expense, and they’d really like to keep doing that without any interference, thank you very much. So the big ag lobby has one key aim — block environmental regulation. “The 10 largest meat and dairy companies, they are all actively working against regulations in one way or another. The lobby will fight anything, whether it’s access to grazing land, climate legislation that potentially will increase costs.” The lobby strategy involves three big plays, starting with a myth. “— was 6 when I knew what I wanted to be.” This slick film, produced by a lobbying group called U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action, shows just how they want you to think about farmers. “That’s what you’ll see on the side of your milk carton. It’s the bucolic family farm. It’s the mom-and-pop farmer, often with a little kid in their arms.” “Truly becoming more and more sustainable? I felt like I was on a mission.” [RECORD SCRATCH] Here’s a quick reminder of what farming actually looks like. “Those practices are only used on about 2% or 3% of American cropland.” “I mean, this is just pure propaganda. It’s a Marvel movie for agriculture.” “We’re superheroes.” And like a Marvel movie, it’s building a myth, a myth where industrial farmers are superheroes defending the Earth, not destroying it. Their archenemy? “Any type of mandatory regulation or even reporting of their pollution.” And as long as we all continue to believe this myth, they’re winning. During the last two decades, the agriculture industry spent $2.5 billion on lobbying. That’s a lot less than the fossil fuel industry, sure, but try telling that to the shareholders at Tyson. “In terms of the percentage of revenue that they’re willing to spend on political action, Tyson, one of the biggest meat companies in America, spends more on political lobbying than ExxonMobil does.” That cash buys the industry friends in powerful places. “We know this involves a revolving door between industry and government positions. John Boehner, who is an infamous climate denier — he stood in the way of climate action through many administrations. He is now on the board of JBS.” And if there’s cash to spare, hey, why not sponsor a major sports team or two? You would think this would be a crisis the Democrats could unite around. But because everyone has farms in their state, politicians on both sides are easy to persuade. Meanwhile, environmental activists? They’re busy fighting everything else. “Most environmental groups will only spend maybe 1% or 2% of their budget on agriculture, despite its enormous impact.” “We don’t control the conversation, they do.” And perhaps the lobby’s biggest advantage is that all this pollution? You can’t see it. “It’s pretty easy to measure what’s coming off of a factory. You’ve got smokestacks. You’ve got specific discharge pipes. But it’s hard to put a gizmo to measure what’s coming off of millions of acres of fields.” All these factors give the big ag lobby an easy ride. But make no mistake. “The P.R. firms are excellent. The lawyers are excellent. I absolutely envy how good these lobbyists are at their job.” It’s outrageous what the big ag lobby has gotten away with. Here are some big wins. Any suggestion that methane emissions should be regulated are quickly branded a — “— cow tax.” A catchy rallying cry that politicians and commentators can parrot. “— cow tax.” “— cow taxes.” “— cow taxes.” That flips a smart green idea into something that sounds absurd and won’t pass. That’s the big ag lobby in action. And when big ag’s lack of regulation gets challenged? “The industry was able to go to Congress, and within about six months, get Congress to amend the law to exempt animal factories from reporting their toxic air emissions. You can imagine how frustrating that is.” The big ag lobby. Meanwhile, while Congress hauls big oil execs in to answer for their lies — “You’re funding these groups. They’re spending millions of dollars in Congress to kill electric vehicles. You could tell them to knock it off for the sake of the planet. Would any of you take the opportunity to look at API and say, stop it? Any of you?” The big ag execs have never been grilled in the same way. That’s the big ag lobby, baby. Remember the Kyoto Protocol back in the ’90s, or the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill during the Obama administration? They never made it past the finish line in the United States, thanks in part to you know who. And how about this? “Sustainability is everything to a farmer because we want our farms to live on for other generations.” After years of denying climate change — “The American Farm Bureau Federation didn’t really recognize the reality of human-induced climate change until a couple years ago.” — and downplaying farming’s role in it — “Are we really causing climate change?” “The science doesn’t back up pointing to U.S. cattle as a major driver of increasing methane.” — big ag is now rebranding itself as the solution to global warming. “Sustainability is a buzzword today. But truth be known, farmers and ranchers have been working on sustainability from the beginning.” Since the beginning of when, last week? Seriously, that is some manure lagoon-sized BS. Oh, wait, there’s more. “JBS, the largest meat company in the world, took out a full-page ad in The New York Times committing to net zero.” But don’t be fooled. “Meanwhile, they’re also funding trade organizations, Republican congressmen, they’re fighting bills, but they’re doing it through these third parties so that they don’t have to take the hit reputationally.” As if it’s about turn isn’t outrageous enough, get this. “But we’re going to take the lead. We’re going to be part of that solution. We’re going to make sure that we’re at the table.” Big ag now says it wants farming to be more sustainable, but on two conditions. First, it’s insisting that measures be voluntary, and second, that farming corporations get paid by us to go green. “They want to get paid to clean up their mess.” It’s like oil companies demanding billions of dollars to clean up after a spill. Man, this lobby is incredible. What do we do about it? “I want to just interrupt. I think that what I need to go to is a caucus meeting. And as much as I’m dying to hear my colleague and friend Chuck Schumer speak, this is more important.” Senator Cory Booker is a member of the Senate’s Agriculture Committee, and he’s one of the few elected officials who have taken on the big ag lobby. “I’ve been here eight years. From oil to pharma, the most powerful lobby to me is the big food, because again, they have allies and influence on both sides of the aisle. We also need to take the worst offenders, who are releasing extraordinary amounts of methane, who are ruining our rivers and lakes and streams, who are offsetting all of these collateral consequences to us and keeping all the profits for themselves. There must be regulation. And we need to take these big, multinational factory farms and stop them, put a moratorium on their growth and eventually phase them out.” Will big ag ever get regulated? One day soon, it will have to change its ways. “— historic drought across the West is already impacting the agricultural industry.” “Some farmers say they’re having to walk away from fields of crops just to get through this dry —” “— high water has delayed planting for many growers who can’t afford to miss out on a good crop this season.” “Rain has washed away parts of his fields.” In their greed, they’ve created a self-defeating feedback loop that’s harming us all. “We — we are past a national emergency.”

Nearly all of this money will be directed to four important conservation programs that have long been part of the Farm Bill, a behemoth that is updated every five years and is up for reauthorization this year, with a September deadline. The spending in the present bill is $428 billion. About three-fourths of that pays for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (once known as food stamps); much of the rest, including programs established for desperate farmers during the New Deal, provides price supports for producers of big row crops like corn, soybeans, wheat and rice, as well as a generous crop insurance subsidy providing further protection against price declines and other losses.

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• Indie 102.3

‘We’re in a crisis’: Coloradan farmers urge Congress to pass farm bill

Marc Arnusch is a full-time farmer and part-time policy wonk.

As president of Marc Arnusch Farms in Weld County, he’s followed numerous farm bills through Congress for over the past 20 years, through work he did through groups like the Colorado Farm Bureau, the Colorado Corn Growers Association and the Sugar Beet Growers.

“I watch that process fairly closely,” he said. “The farm bill is easily the largest piece of legislation that'll affect farms and ranches across the country.”

The bill is meant to set national agriculture and food policy for five-year periods, requiring lawmakers to regularly revisit and update its many elements. The last one passed was in 2018, with a 2023 expiration date. But as negotiations stalled in Congress last year , lawmakers agreed to a one-year extension that ends September 30, 2024.

Speaking from his office in Prospect Valley, Arnusch said he’s not surprised that neither chamber has passed a new farm bill, making another extension of the 2018 farm bill increasingly likely.

“It was a little bit of disappointment. We were hoping that we could get the farm bill passed before the political wheels of a presidential election,” he said. “There's very little within my farm today that was the same as in 2018. Whether it was the cost of production, input prices, commodity prices, even the way we manage our farm has changed significantly since 2018. National ag policy needs to evolve with our evolving farms.”

During the pandemic, prices for crops went up, but so did the costs. And while crop prices have since dropped, the costs to run a farm have not.

It’s something you hear from a lot of farmers across Colorado.

Danny Wood is a dry land farmer in Peetz, near the Nebraska border. While some lawmakers in D.C. understand the pressure farmers are under, he doesn’t think most do.  

“We're in a crisis at the moment. We need some help at the moment, and anything they do seems to take a year or two to come into effect,” he said. This summer’s drought means his acres and acres of corn and milo won’t amount to much this year, which is why crop insurance and the federal subsidy to cover it are so important to him.

In his eyes, the fact that Congress left for a six-week recess with the farm bill still in limbo speaks volumes about where this falls in lawmakers’ list of priorities.

“It seems to me like that that puts a message out to me that it's not that important to them. They figure, well, they'll still be there when we come back next year. Well, not all the farmers are going to be here next year,” he said.

Prospect Valley’s Arnusch said he wants to see a “truly negotiated” farm bill — one that’s bipartisan like in the past. But he worries the climate in Washington has just gotten too political.

“Today it feels like — for the very first time in my farming career — we have a very red farm bill and a very, very blue farm bill, and there's an ocean apart between the two,” he said. “That comes to me as a little bit of surprise. I'm 25 to almost 30 years into my farming career and this is the first time I felt that.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want to see the safety net for farmers strengthened. But there are different approaches and different trade-offs. Republicans want to offset that bigger safety net with cuts to food aid and conservation programs, the very policy areas that Democrats want to see strengthened.

And the upcoming election isn’t helping either, as both sides wait to see if the outcome in November boosts their negotiating position.  

“Both sides are going to want to try and get (the farm bill) down the road so that they can get it the way they want it,” explained Chad Franke, president of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. The group has members in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico. “But the farmers and the people who consume that food deserve some stability.” 

As Ashley House with the Colorado Farm Bureau points out, while a one-year extension would keep many programs running, needed changes can only happen with a new farm bill. Things like updated reference prices for price loss coverage and agriculture risk coverage programs, increased funding for ag research and funding protections for conservation programs are on hold until Congress reaches an agreement.

“(China) spends more than $10 billion a year on agricultural research and so that’s twice what we’re spending in the United States right now,” she explained. “Without passing a new (farm bill), we’re not able to allocate those dollars to renew that commitment to agricultural research.”

And it’s not just farmers and ranchers watching the congressional inaction with frustration. The farm bill also includes important nutrition programs like SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, and The Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP, which helps supply food banks around the country. The nutrition title is the most expensive part of the bill.

Sarah Mason with Feeding Colorado says food banks have seen more people needing their help, especially as pandemic-era SNAP benefits ended and grocery prices have risen sharply.

“The biggest impact of a delayed farm bill is that we're not going to be able to make progress on that increased need that we're seeing in communities. So, we're operating in a very different environment right now than we were six years ago,” she said.

For example, TEFAP provides a lot of food for food banks, but when that support goes down, organizations have to purchase supplies directly to stock their shelves. Erin Pulling, head of Food Bank of the Rockies, says that historically they bought about 10 percent of their food supply. In the last few years that portion has tripled.

“We used to spend a few million dollars a year on food. This year we will spend more than $14 million. Last year was even more than that,” Pulling said.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are well aware of the time crunch to get something done. Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, who serves on the Agriculture committee, said farmers need certainty. Talking before he left for the August recess, Bennet was hopeful that some work might get done while they were away

“I hope very much that when we come back in September — that we keep talking between now and then — (and) we make progress in September, and then try to get it done in the lame duck. I was glad when we extended it, but it is no replacement for a five-year farm bill,” he said.

The House passed a farm bill out of committee earlier in the year, largely along party lines, but it hasn’t been brought to the floor for a vote. The Senate hasn’t actually written its version of the bill yet, as negotiations have broken down.

“(What) we're trying to do is negotiate and get more farm in the farm bill,” said Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member John Boozman of Arkansas. He complained that Republicans’ efforts are not getting any acknowledgement from “the other side.”

For her part, Chair Debbie Stabenow of Michigan blamed Republicans for the lack of progress. She said before the recess that she’s ready to get the bill done, but “doesn’t have a serious partner in the Senate wanting to negotiate it.”

This is the third farm bill Stabenow has led on and she said there are always tough issues. “But my goal is to make sure we're supporting every part of agriculture and every part of the country. Forestry issues… tackling wildfires, droughts, other things. So I'm interested in a broad bill, not one that just helps certain farmers.”

Stabenow, who is retiring at the end of the year, hopes the pressure of dwindling time will cut the logjam and get a bill done after the elections and before the new Congress.

But starting all over on the new farm bill in the 119 th Congress is a real possibility.

It’s something that Lauren Kelso with the small urban farm, Growing Gardens in Boulder, worries about.

“I think having to start these conversations over again after the years of work that has been put in, if we do with a whole new group of people, is a real concern,” she said. “It just slows progress exponentially every time we have to start these conversations over again.

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The Farm Bill: A Citizen’s Guide

The farm bill is one of the most important pieces of legislation the American president signs. Negotiated every five to seven years, it has tremendous implications for food production, nutrition assistance, habitat conservation, international trade, and much more. Yet at nearly 1,000 pages, it is difficult to understand for policymakers, let alone citizens. In this primer, Dan Imhoff and Christina Badaracco translate all the “legalese” and political jargon into an accessible, graphics-rich 200 pages. 

Readers will learn the basic elements of the bill, its origins and history, and perhaps most importantly, the battles that will determine the direction of food policy in the coming years. The authors trace how the legislation has evolved, from its first incarnation during the Great Depression, to today, when America has become the world’s leading agricultural powerhouse. They explain the three main components of the bill—farm subsidies, food stamps or SNAP, and conservation programs—as well as how crucial public policies are changing.

With a new farm bill just signed into law, we all need to understand the implications of food policy. What’s the impact of crop insurance? How does SNAP actually work? What would it take to create a healthier, more sustainable food system? These are questions that affect not only farmers, but everyone who eats. If you care about the answers, The Farm Bill is your guide.

Download the annotated Table of Contents

Praise for The Farm Bill: A Citizen’s Guide

“Dan Imhoff does an extraordinary job of explaining an impenetrable bill with such clarity that we can’t ignore the facts: that our current Farm Bill profoundly damages our organic farms, our environment, and our health. Just as extraordinary are the practical solutions Imhoff proposes for fixing the bill—humane policies that would support regenerative agriculture and our local farmers instead of tearing them down.”

–Alice Waters, Executive Chef, Founder, and Owner, Chez Panisse

“Cuts to the core of dozens of issues Congress wrestles with every four years, and gives citizens sage advice for making their voices heard in a debate too often dominated by Big Ag, Big Food, and Big Money.”

–Ken Cook, President and Cofounder, Environmental Working Group

“Required reading for anyone who cares about what we eat.”

–from the foreword by Marion Nestle

About the Authors

Additional Resources

“Food Waste Has increased Dramatically, Despite Hunger” by Dan Imhoff and Christina Badaracco, The Hill, March 11, 2021

“Make the Corn Belt a Carbon Belt” by Dan Imhoff, The Progressive , December 10, 2020

“Six Health-Focused Fixes for SNAP” by Christina Badaracco, The Health Care Blog , April 11, 2019

“Despite Small Wins, the New Farm Bill is a Failure of Imagination” by Dan Imhoff, Civil Eats , December 13, 2018

“Daniel Imhoff: Time for a Climate Resilient Farm Bill” Environmental Health News , November 13, 2018

“Daniel Imhoff Explains Why Everyone Should Care About the Farm Bill” by Maggie Tauranac, FoodPrint , March 28, 2019

Header photo by freestocks.org

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• What is farm bill 2020: Pros & cons of three farm bills Centre introduced

What is farm bill 2020: Pros & cons of three farm bills Centre introduced

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Farm Acts, 2020 Background

• Agriculture comes under the state list of Schedule 7 of the Indian Constitution and to initiate reforms in the agricultural sector, in 2017, the central government had released model farming acts. However, several reforms suggested in the model acts had not been implemented by the states. The centre promulgated three ordinances in the first week of June 2020.
• In September 2020, the President gave assent to the three farm acts.
• There have been protests against the acts by farmers in Punjab, Haryana and other states. Some states have also opposed the new legislation. The Kerala legislative assembly passed a resolution against the farm reforms and sought their withdrawal.
• The Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the Farm Acts 2020 and constituted a four-member committee to make recommendations within two months.
• The three laws aim to change the way agricultural produce is marketed, sold and stored across the country. They are mostly focussed on the forward linkages to the agricultural sector.

The following are the three acts passed and their salient provisions.

The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020:

• The act aims at opening up agricultural sale and marketing outside the notified Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis for farmers, removes barriers to inter-State trade and provides a framework for electronic trading of agricultural produce. It expands the scope of trade areas of farmers’ produce from select areas to “any place of production, collection, aggregation”.
• It prohibits state governments from levying any market fee, cess, or levy on farmers, traders, and electronic trading platforms for the trade of farmers’ produce conducted in an ‘outside trade area’.
• The act seeks to break the monopoly of government-regulated mandis and allow farmers to sell directly to private buyers.

Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020:

• It creates a national framework for contract farming. It provides a legal framework for farmers to enter into written contracts with companies and produce for them.
• The written farming agreement, entered into prior to the production or rearing of any farm produce, lists the terms and conditions for supply, quality, grade, standards and price of farm produce and services.
• It defines a dispute resolution mechanism. The Act provides for a three-level dispute settlement mechanism– Conciliation Board, Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Appellate Authority.

Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020:

• It removes cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onions and potatoes from the list of essential commodities. It will deregulate the production, storage, movement and distribution of these food commodities.
• It will also remove stockholding limits on such items except under “extraordinary circumstances”. The central government is allowed regulation of supply during war, famine, extraordinary price rise and natural calamity of grave nature and annual retail price rise exceeding 100% in horticultural produce (basically onions and potatoes) and 50% for non-perishables (cereals, pulses and edible oils), while providing exemptions for exporters and processors at such times as well.
• It requires that imposition of any stock limit on agricultural produce be based on price rise.
• It will allow agribusinesses to stock food articles and remove the government’s ability to impose restrictions arbitrarily.

Arguments in Favour of the Farm Acts

• The acts are being hailed as a watershed moment in the history of Indian agriculture that could initiate a complete transformation of agriculture.
• The new farm acts would help the small and marginal farmers (86% of total farmers) who don’t have the means to either bargain for their produce to get a better price or invest in technology to improve the productivity of farms.
• The new acts will help in establishing a much more integrated market, creating competition, and enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of the marketing domain of the agricultural sector.

Addressing the lacunae of APMC acts:

• The law related to the regulation of Indian agricultural markets like the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) act had led to centralization and was thought to be reducing competition and participation, with undue commissions, market fees, and monopoly of associations damaging the agricultural sector.
• The act seeks to break the monopoly of government-regulated mandis and allow farmers to sell directly to private buyers by circumventing the APMCs. The new laws provide full autonomy for farmers to sell their produce.

Higher price realization for farmers:

• The act is expected to increase the freedom of choice of sale of agri-produce for the farmers and this could help the farmers in getting a better price for their produce because of more choices of markets. This would allow small and marginal farmers to sell their produce at market and competitive prices.
• The act allows for private players to buy the farmers’ produce even at their farm gates. This will allow the farmers to get better prices through competition and cost-cutting on transportation.
• The farmers will be able to get a greater share of the price being paid by the customers, which currently stands at a lowly 15%.
• This would help raise rural incomes and subsequently provide an impetus to the economy at large due to the increased demand from the rural areas.

One India, one agricultural market:

• It is expected to pave the way for the creation of a ‘One India, One Agriculture Market’ by promoting barrier-free inter-state and intra-state trade with provisions of electronic trading as well. This could help correct the regional disparities in demand and supply of the agricultural produce. This could help farmers of regions with surplus produce to get better prices and consumers of regions with shortages, lower prices.

Risk mitigation:

• Contract farming will help small and marginal farmers transfer the risk of market unpredictability from the farmer to the sponsor.
• It reduces the risk of price and marketing costs on small and marginal farmers.

Better price discovery:

• Contract farming will help farmers reduce the cost of marketing and improve their incomes.
• Farmers will engage in direct marketing thereby eliminating intermediaries resulting in the better realization of price.

Scope for increasing farm productivity:

• Contract farming agreements between companies and farmers are already operational in crops of particular processing grades (the potatoes used by beverages and snacks giant PepsiCo for its Lay’s and Uncle Chips wafers) or dedicated for exports (gherkins). The processors/exporters in these cases typically not only undertake assured buyback at pre-agreed prices, but also provide farmers with seeds/planting material and extension support to ensure that only produce of the desired standard is grown.

Impetus to private sector participation:

• The act seeks to encourage private sector participation in procurement and reduce the government burden of procuring.
• Contract farming can ensure uninterrupted sources for their production and also secure the purchaser from market price fluctuations.

Legal framework protecting farmer interests:

• The legal framework for contract farming will empower farmers to engage with the contract buyers on a level playing field without any fear of exploitation. The mutually agreed remunerative price framework is envisaged under the act. This provision is touted to protect and empower farmers.
• Sale, lease or mortgage of farmers’ land is totally prohibited and farmers’ land is also protected against any recovery.
• Farmers have been provided with adequate protection.
• An effective dispute resolution mechanism has been provided with clear timelines for redressal.

Addressing the lacunae in ECA, 1955:

• The Economic Survey 2019-20, which has extensively analyzed the Essential Commodities Act, notes that the government intervention under the ECA 1955 often distorted agricultural trade while being totally ineffective in curbing inflation.
• Since large stocks held by traders can be outlawed under the ECA 1955 anytime, they tend to buy far less than their usual capacity and farmers often suffer huge losses during surplus harvests of perishables. The threat of restrictions also acts as a disincentive for private investment into cold storage, warehouses, processing and export as entrepreneurs get discouraged by the regulatory mechanisms in the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
• Such laws also restrict opportunities to export even when global crop prices go up.

Attracting private investment:

• The deregulation through ECA amendment will help attract private sector/ foreign direct investment into the agriculture sector.

Improve the forward linkage infrastructure:

• The incoming private sector investment would help build supply chain infrastructure for the agricultural sector. This could help facilitate the supply of Indian farm produce to national and global markets.

Arguments against the Farm Acts

Some of the farmer organizations and others have called the acts corporate-friendly and anti-farmer and have expressed the fear that the new acts may hurt the farmers’ interests. The bills have faced strong protests mainly from Punjab farmers and from opposition parties.

Against the spirit of federalism:

• Since agriculture and markets are State subjects – entry 14 and 28 respectively in List II – the acts are being seen as a direct encroachment upon the functions of the States and against the spirit of cooperative federalism enshrined in the Constitution.
• The Centre, however, argued that trade and commerce in food items is part of the concurrent list, thus giving it constitutional propriety.

Fears with respect to MSP system:

• Farmers fear that the new proposed system will end the minimum support price regime. They fear that encouraging tax-free private trade outside the APMC mandis will make these notified markets unviable, which could lead to a reduction in government procurement itself.
• The creation of private mandis will drive agriculture business towards private mandis, ending government markets, intermediary systems and APMCs. In a scenario where more and more trading moves out of the APMCs, these regulated market yards will lose revenues.
• As a result, big corporate houses will overtake markets, thereby procuring farm produce at incidental rates. Critics view the dismantling of the monopoly of the APMCs as a sign of ending the assured procurement of food grains at minimum support prices (MSP). This could lead to the increasing clout of private buyers and could lead to low bargaining powers of the farmers.
• Lack of statutory support in the acts for the MSP is a major point of concern, especially for farmers from Punjab and Haryana, where 65% of wheat (2019) is procured at MSP by the Food Corporation of India and state agencies.
• Critics argue that ensuring a larger number of farmers get the MSP for their produce and straightening kinks in the APMCs, instead of making these State mechanisms redundant is the need of the hour.

Effect on state revenues:

• Mandis bring in revenue for state governments. The diversion of agricultural trade towards private mandis could lead to the loss of states’ revenues.
• Some states are concerned about the loss of revenue from mandi taxes and fees, which currently range from 8.5% in Punjab to less than 1% in some States.

Effect of middlemen:

• Middlemen working with APMC and traders will be affected.

Past examples:

• The deregulation of the sugar industry in 1998, which paved the way for private establishments, did not result in a significant improvement in farmers’ productivity or incomes.
• A state-led attempt in Bihar to deregulate the APMCs in 2006 has not resulted in an increase in farmers’ income or improved infrastructure.
• Without strong institutional arrangements, laissez-faire (no economic interventionism) policy may harm lakhs of unorganised small farmers.

Cases of fraud:

• 150 farmers from four districts in Madhya Pradesh were allegedly defrauded of over Rs 5 crore by traders. Similar cases have been reported recently from Hoshangabad, Seoni, Gwalior, Guna, Balaghat, Barwani and Jabalpur districts.

Challenges to farmers:

• The inability of the small and marginal farmers to understand the terms of the contract may lead to the exploitation of such farmers.
• The lack of bargaining power of farmers with big companies is also a major concern.
• Critics are apprehensive about formal contractual obligations owing to the unorganised nature of the farm sector and lack of resources for a legal battle with private corporate entities.

Lack of price fixation mechanism:

• The Price Assurance Act, while offering protection to farmers against price exploitation, does not prescribe the mechanism for price fixation. There is apprehension that the free hand given to private corporate houses could lead to farmer exploitation.

Increased threat of food insecurity:

• Critics anticipate that the easing of regulation of food items would lead to exporters, processors and traders hoarding farm produce during the harvest season, when prices are generally lower, and releasing it later when prices increase. This could undermine food security.

Increased volatility of food items:

• Critics anticipate irrational volatility in the prices of essentials and increased black marketing.

Lack of clear cut guidelines:

• The act proposes a price trigger mechanism for invoking ECA. However, it involves a wide range for a price trigger to invoke the ECA. Many things are left vague. Price triggers or price levels do not have a reference to a locality.

Farm Acts – Critical analysis

The constitutional validity of the acts:

• Article 246 of the Constitution places “agriculture” in entry 14 and “markets and fairs” in entry 28 of the State List. But entry 42 of the Union List empowers the Centre to regulate “inter-State trade and commerce”. While trade and commerce “within the State” is under entry 26 of the State List, it is subject to the provisions of entry 33 of the Concurrent List – under which the Centre can make laws that would prevail over those enacted by the states.
• Entry 33 of the Concurrent List covers trade and commerce in “foodstuffs, including edible oilseeds and oils, fodder, cotton and jute”. The Centre, in other words, can pass any law that removes all impediments to both inter- and intra-state trade in farm produce, while also overriding the existing state APMC Acts. The FPTC Act does precisely that.
• However, some experts make a distinction between agricultural “marketing” and “trade”. Agriculture per se would deal with everything that a farmer does — right from field preparation and cultivation to also the sale of his/her own produce. The act of primary sale at a mandi by the farmer is as much “agriculture” as production in the field. “Trade” begins only after the produce has been “marketed” by the farmer.
• Going by this interpretation, the Centre is within its rights to frame laws that promote barrier-free trade of farm produce (inter- as well as intra-state) and do not allow stockholding or export restrictions. But these can be only after the farmer has sold. Regulation of the first sale of agricultural produce is a “marketing” responsibility of the states, not the Centre.
• The Judiciary will have to take a call on the constitutional validity of the farm acts, 2020.

Need to address misconceptions:

Misconceptions regarding MSP:

• An analysis of the recent laws makes it clear that as against the prevalent misconception that the prevailing system of Minimum Support Price (MSP) is being replaced, rather new options were being put forward for the farmers through these farm bills.
• The government has made it clear that procurement at MSP will continue and also that the mandis will not stop functioning. Under the new system, farmers will have the option to sell their produce at other places in addition to the mandis.
• It is worth noting that only 6% of farmers actually sell their crops at MSP rates, according to the 2015 Shanta Kumar Committee’s report using National Sample Survey data. None of the laws directly impinges upon the MSP regime.

Misconceptions regarding contract farming:

• There are fears that contract farming will lead to land loss of the small and marginal farmers to big corporates. However, adequate protection of land ownership is in place to protect farmer interests.
• The act explicitly prohibits any sponsor firm from acquiring the land of farmers – whether through purchase, lease or mortgage.
• The point to note is that contract cultivation is voluntary in nature and farmers cannot be forced into an agreement.

Inevitability of agricultural reforms:

• The Indian farmer constitutes 40 per cent of the country and an even higher percentage of its poor and as the available data points out, is under immense stress.
• Indian economic and social development depends upon the empowerment of the farmers and the rural segment of our population. Thus there is an urgent need for agricultural sector reforms to move beyond the antiquated agricultural policies.
• The Indian farm bills are in line with international precedence wherein a number of developing economies have been making changes to their agriculture policies since the 1990s to encourage private sector involvement which would provide a major fillip to the sector.
• The International Monetary Fund has also backed the recent farm acts as being an important step in the right direction.

Way forward:

• The farm acts are a step in the right direction and there is the need to ensure the effective implementation of the same.
• The following measures could help address some of the concerns regarding the farm laws.
• The move to enlarge the market for agricultural produce is welcome but this should be supplemented by measures that will help preserve the existing ‘safety net’ mechanisms like MSP and public procurement.
• Though a farmer will have the freedom to choose where he/she wants to sell, he/she may not have the knowledge to negotiate the best terms with a private company. The state should work towards empowering the farmers in this direction.
• The government must create enabling infrastructure to enable the farmers to do barrier-free trading of agricultural commodities.
• The method of determining prices, including guaranteed price and additional amount, should be provided in the agreement as annexures. The government must ensure suitable provisions to ensure that the prices are not below the MSP.
• In case of prices subjected to variations, the contract agreement must include a guaranteed price to be paid for such produce, and a clear reference linked to the prevailing prices or any other suitable benchmark prices for any additional amount over and above the guaranteed price, including bonus or premium.
• There should be time-bound redressal of grievances.

These Farm Acts, their effects and the significance of repealing them are important for the upcoming UPSC exam .

FAQ about Farm Acts, 2020

What are the 3 farm laws, under which list the subject of agriculture falls in the constitution.

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Everything you need to know about the farm laws farmers are protesting against.

Farmers are protesting against the three agri reforms — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

• What are the three agri reforms in contention? The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation), the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act were passed by the House and received the President's assent turning them into laws. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has assured that the Minimum Support Price mechanism will stay, and adequate protection of land ownership was in place to protect farmer interests.
• What are they for? The government has said these reforms will accelerate growth in the sector through private sector investment in building infrastructure and supply chains for farm produce in national and global markets.They are intended to help small farmers who don’t have means to either bargain for their produce to get a better price or invest in technology to improve the productivity of farms.The bill on Agri market seeks to allow farmers to sell their produce outside APMC 'mandis' to whoever they want. Farmers will get better prices through competition and cost-cutting on transportation. However, this Bill could mean states will lose 'commissions' and 'mandi fees'.The legislation on contract farming will allow farmers to enter into a contract with agri-business firms or large retailers on pre-agreed prices of their produce. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, seeks to remove commodities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes from the list of essential commodities. This will end the imposition of stock-holding limits except under extraordinary circumstances.
• Who is protesting? Farmers from Punjab, Haryana and some other parts are protesting against these reforms. Currently there is a major protest going on at Delhi's borders. Badal, too, tendered her resignation after the Bills were passed. Opposition parties, including TMC, Congress, DMK and BSP, opposed the agriculture sector reform bills, saying they were against the interests of small and marginal farmers. Congress upped its ante against the Modi government, terming the move a conspiracy to defeat the Green Revolution.Slamming the government, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said: "This government has been eyeing, how they can take the farmers' land to benefit their capitalist friends, whether is the Land Acquisition Act, whether in the industrial system through weakening the labour courts and now this three-pronged attack on the Indian agricultural system through the two bills on farming - one related to APMC, the other one is related to contract farming and the third bill which is on essential commodities... a three-pronged attack on the Indian farmers."

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Editorials | Editorial: American farmers are doing their…

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Editorials | Editorial: American farmers are doing their jobs. Not so Congress, with no Farm Bill in sight.

On Aug. 12, the U.S. Agriculture Department unveiled its most significant crop report of the year, projecting a bin-busting soybean harvest of 4.6 billion bushels, which would easily set a record. Corn is projected at 15.1 billion bushels, the third biggest haul ever, coming on top of a similarly enormous crop last year.

With little fanfare, America’s farmers are feeding a hungry world. At the same time, Congress is letting them down.

Negotiations for a new Farm Bill have stalled — again. And while this page can find plenty to criticize in the sprawling legislation governing farm and food policy, the reality is that America needs a new one, and needs it now. As it stands, a huge chunk of the federal budget covering everything from crop subsidies and food stamps to conservation practices is based on the now-obsolete plan set forth in the 2018 Farm Bill.

Instead of updating that five-year bill as it expired last fall, a hyperpartisan Congress renewed it for a year, supposedly buying time to work out details. That one-year renewal expires next month, and guess what? No new Farm Bill is even close to being approved. Congress is preparing to kick the can down the road again, at least until after the Nov. 5 election and probably well beyond it.

That commits the federal government to continue shelling out more than $100 billion a year on increasingly out-of-date programs. It’s an infuriating waste of taxpayer money, and a missed opportunity to bring about badly needed reforms.

Consider everything that has happened since the end of 2018, when the last Farm Bill became law. A pandemic shut down the country, changing everyday eating habits. Russia invaded Ukraine, devastating one of the world’s biggest breadbaskets.

Climate change brought on harsher weather, wildfires and changes in growing conditions that affect everything from the timing of harvests to the proliferation of pests. Budget-busting disaster payments that were supposed to be reduced thanks to generous subsidies in the 2018 Farm Bill have continued instead.

At the same time, prices have shot up for food, as well as seed, fertilizer, labor, equipment and practically every other important farm input. That unwelcome burst of inflation has raised the cost of programs in the 2018 bill.

In many ways, the bill itself was an exercise in kicking the can down the road, as it enacted only a few modest reforms to the biggest budget items. The 2018 legislation put in place work requirements for food stamps that turned out to be laughably weak. Subsidies that flowed to the wealthiest farmers and landowners continued to badly distort a marketplace awash in high-fructose corn syrup and ethanol motor fuel.

This page has previously pointed out some of the most egregious sins of the 2018 bill that Congress has left to fester. The  sugar-subsidy program  benefits a small cartel of rich producers at the expense of every American consumer, raising the cost of producing anything with sugar in the U.S. It has badly damaged Chicago’s century-old status as a leading center of U.S. candy making. It needs to go.

The 2018 bill also authorized the mass production of hemp, a variety of cannabis that contains only a tiny amount of THC, the ingredient that gets people high. Entrepreneurs quickly figured out how to make concentrated hemp products, so the bill in effect legalized a form of marijuana nationwide,  undermining state laws from coast to coast.

Another costly error of that era was removing restrictions on using the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corp. as a slush fund that ex-President Donald Trump then tapped to pay tens of billions to farmers hurt by his idiotic trade war with China. President Joe Biden proceeded to abuse the same slush fund for climate initiatives and other priorities of his administration. That loophole must be closed.

So far, Congress has accomplished practically nothing. The House GOP deserves credit for at least getting a new Farm Bill out of committee, including a few votes from Democrats. But the Congressional Budget Office recently determined the bill would add billions to the federal deficit, which means a chunk of the House GOP won’t support it anymore. The Democratic-controlled Senate, meantime, aggressively attacked the House bill but hasn’t yet produced one of its own.

As inspiring as it is to drive through farm country and see healthy crops for miles around, one side effect is lower prices, as supplies of corn and soybeans increase. That will translate into lower incomes for Midwest farmers who up to now have enjoyed prosperous times in recent years.

Early signs of economic problems in farm country abound. Moline-based farm equipment-maker Deere & Co. has announced mass layoffs this year, as well as plans to move part of its manufacturing from the Midwest to Mexico in search of lower costs. Some farmers who are watching their crops grow tall while their profits shrink may have trouble getting the loans they need to plant again next year as the cost of production keeps rising.

Let’s go, Congress. Put partisanship aside, scrap the 2018 Farm Bill once and for all, and take some bold steps to put America’s farm and food economy on the right track for the future.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected] .

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What is Farm Bill? Pros, Cons, and Challenges of Farm Bill 2020

Update on Farm Bill 2020: Farm bill revoked. Yes, you heard it right!

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday 19 November 2021, announced to repeal the three contentious agriculture laws that were enacted on September 17, 2020.

The Three Farm Bill passed by houses of Parliament was given a green signal by the President of India on Sunday, September 27, 2020. The Farm Bill 2020 has created quite a stir in India with a mix of responses among the countrymen.

THE FARM BILL 2020

The farm bill 2020 included 3 bills for farmers. the bill are:.

• Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 
• Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 
• Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill

Also Read: Full Details on 3 Farmers Bill 2020 .

AIM OF GOVERNMENT: FARM BILL 2020

The Farm Bill was passed with a plan to reform the agriculture sector and bring better benefits to the farmers in terms of getting them good deals for their produce.

Agriculture is one of the biggest sectors of Indian economy, this change is going to see a very big structural shift. 

The Modi government sees this as a pavement to let corporate investments enter the current ecosystem and also believes that this is going to be more profitable to farmers. 

OBJECTION OF FARM BILL 2020

Many political parties and farmers of India are extensively opposing the Farm bill. Their outlook is otherwise and their version finds the farm Bill 2020 will Impact the welfares of farmers.

So, there have been protests and rallies against the current government and the farm bill in various parts of India.

Although there have been assurances from Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar confirming protection to Farmers in form of a Minimum Support Price mechanism and land ownership, a major part of the farmers’ population is still protesting for the withdrawal of the Act.

HOW ARE THESE FARM BILL 2020 BENEFICIAL TO FARMERS? –  PROS

• Farmers will have a vast territory and an alternate channel to sell their produce, creating a competitive market favorable to them. There will be a corresponding market ecosystem for the farmers while in the earlier set up they could only make deals through NAM system.
• Farmers will not be bound to pay commissions to commission agents at mandis to sell off their crops. The farmers will now move towards a free and more flexible system.
• There is an amendment to the Essential Commodities Act. The purpose of this act is to eliminate the insecurities of farmers. At present the traders purchasing from farmers consider that the stocks are excess, they hold stocks, and prices are penalized. This often imposed losses for the farmers.
• Minimum Support Price remains in place and government procurement will continue.
• The existing APMC system leads to rise in a cartel led by traders. Thus there is an unfair market and it pays farmers only the MSP for their produces.

WHY IS OPPOSITION TO FARM BILL 2020 SO STRONG? – CONS

• The Farm Bill stands against India’s soul of cooperative federalism and directly encroaches upon the functions of the State. The constitution says that agriculture and markets are State subjects while Central Government argues that trade and commerce in food items is a simultaneous list, thus constitutional decorum is maintained.
• State governments will no longer be able to collect the market fee and levy cess thus this will incur a loss of revenue to the State Governments
• There is a large scale fear of the demolition of APMC mandis. There will be disassembling of APMC which in turn points to the slow elimination and assured procurement of food grains by the government at MSP.
• Farm Bill requires farmers to sign farm agreements, before the production of crops. Amongst many other terms, the price that needs to be paid should be mentioned in the agreement beforehand. In case there are variations in prices, the agreement must include a guaranteed price and clear references for additional amounts. This will include bonuses and premiums. Since there is no mechanism for price fixation, the farmers are not protected against price exploitation. Since corporate houses are given a free hand, there are possibilities of exploitation, owing to the unorganized nature of our agro sector. Also, farmers will lack resources when in need of a legal battle with corporates.
• The Essential Commodities Ordinance has delisted cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion, and potatoes from the essential commodities list. There is the regulation on such produce even during the war, famine, extraordinary price rise, and natural calamities, only exemptions being exporters and processors.  The exporters, processors, and traders may hoard produces at lower prices and release only when prices go up and States would have no control over the handiness of stocks. 
• Although the government assures MSP, no law mandates this. Farmers are more concerned with MSP.
• About 500 farmer unions and transport unions are standing in protest against Farms Act 2020 and are demanding that the Government should repeal all three Acts. They firmly believe that the Acts are detrimental to their interests and that the government is pulling hands off the MSP responsibility.

CHALLENGES TO FARM BILL 2020

• Mistrust has been formed among farmers against the government  due to the fact that the bill was passed without debates. Hence implementation of the Act will be a challenge to the government.
• Now that the restrictions on storage on a few products are repealed, imports of such products may increase. This again will be a challenge to protect domestic farmers from such imports.

CONCLUSION : FARM BILL 2020

The Exclusion of middlemen benefits farmers only when they have a well-formed infrastructure like markets, arduous storage facilities, electricity supply, and a link to food processing companies who could compete to buy their produce. The government should also provide statutory backing to the MSP and government procurement in order to counter the insecurities of farmers. 

Agriculture employs half of the population in India. It is surely in need to reform, but the new farm bill and the controversies surrounding it are unlikely to be a solution for farmers’ troubles. On one hand, the new bill improves farm incomes, attracts investment and technology, on the other hand, it the middlemen who effectively run wholesale markets, and state governments stand to lose their income.  

The bill may prove to be revolutionary but the government needs to address farmers’ concerns and put an end to their uncertainties. By way of open discussions for sake of removing loopholes

Frequently Asked Question: FARM BILL 2020

Farm Bill or The Indian agriculture acts of 2020 were three acts initiated in our Parliament in September 2020. The bill was approved in September 2020 in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. It was given assent by President on 27 September 2020. According to the ruling government, these acts are reforms to accelerate growth in agriculture through private investment.  It intends to support small farmers in attracting better deals and investment in technology to improve productivity. Since the passing of the law, there has been a massive protest by farmers which led to the staying of the law by the Supreme Court in January 2021 for redressal of farmers’ grievances.

1. The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce Bill 2020, lets farmers sell their produce outside APMC mandis. 2. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement 2020, provisions contract farming and direct marketing. 3. The Essential Commodities Bill, 2020, opens up storage, production, movement, and sale of cereals, pulses, edible oils, and onion.

1. The Farmers fear scrapping of MSP as the act provisions selling the harvest directly to private companies without relying on APMC Mandis. 2. Most agricultural products have been removed from the Essential Commodities List. This will lead to price volatility and hoarding. 3. Farmers also fear that allowing private investment in farm infrastructure may squeeze out the traditional farmers.

The New Farm bill gives farmers and traders opportunities alike. They can have freedom of choice in sale and purchase of produce. There will be an alternative trading channel to promote competition, leading to better deals in favor of farmers. Farmers get cost benefits in form of reduced transport cost, no commission, lesser transaction cost, and a large number of buyers. As the farmers will be able to connect directly with the big traders and exporters, it will bring profit to agriculture and bring revolutionary changes.

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Essay on Farm Bill 2020 | Farmer Bill 2020 Essay and Highlights of Agriculture Bill 2020

Essay on farm bill 2020.

India is an agriculture dominated country. More than 70% of India's population is either directly or indirectly involved in agricultural activities. Due to the hard work of these farmers we are eating peacefully. These farmers feed entire nation but it is a saddening fact that they are entangled in the fetters of starvation and poverty. Recently Central Government has passed new bills for well being of farmers and agriculture sector . But farmers and State Governments are opposing these bills. Farmers across the country have protested against these bills in streets and on roads. Punjab and Haryana farmer's tractor protests in July and on 26th January in Delhi were opposition of these agriculture bills 2020. On 28th August 2020 Punjab Assembly has also passed a resolution rejecting the Central Government's ordinances.

What is the Farm bill 2020 ?, What benefits will get farmer from  New Agriculture Bills 2020?, How Agriculture Sector will be benefited from Farmers Bills 2020? Why Farmers are protesting against Agriculture bill 2020 ?

What is Farm Bill 2020?

Benefits to farmers from farm bill 2020.

The Farm Bill 2020 envisages a path for farmers as an alternative platform to sell their produce in open market. Now farmers can sell their products openly to anyone and anywhere and they can get higher price. There will be no APMC market fee or cess on transactions in such trade areas. APMCs will also continue its functioning. Now APMCs have to compete with these alternate platforms and now farmers have a choice for selling their farm produces. These bills give powers to farmers to sell their produces directly to the corporate or exporter buying in bulk from the farm.

The Farm Bill 2020 does not annihilate current MSP based procurement of food grains. The MSP based procurement system will be continue and farmers can also sell their crop products in Mandi on existing MSP.

Government's motive towards Farm Bill 2020

From time to time Government has launched numerous schemes for welfare of farmers and agriculture sector . Government has introduced these Farm Bills to transform agriculture sector and well being of farmers. This step has been taken by the Government to boost agriculture sector and double the farmers income by 2022. It is thought that freeing of agriculture sector will eventually help in better pricing due to competitiveness in the market. When farmers will sell their products to corporates and exporters directly, it will induce corporate sector to invest in the agri-ecosystem. This will also give farmers better access to modern technology and farmers will be benefited by it.

Why Farmers are protesting against Agriculture bill 2020 ?

The Price Assurance Bill doesn't prescribe any mechanism for price fixation. Thus there is a apprehension in farmers that free hand given to private corporate houses could lead to farmer's exploitation. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance removes, pulses, oil seeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes from the essential commodities list. Thus the amendment deregulates the production, movement, storage and distribution of these food commodities.

Also Read:  Essay on Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav

Agriculture Bill 2020 Essay

Repeal of Farm Bill: Farm bills 2020 were passed in the year 2020 and now the same has been repealed by the Government. The Farm Laws Repeal Bill 2021 which aimed to repealing the three farm laws passed on December 1, 2021. These farm bills repealed by the Government in view of the onging farmers' protests against these laws.

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What is the New Agriculture Bill 2020? Check-out these Must-Know Facts about APMC

Amid strong protests done by the opposition parties, three agriculture bills got passed by the Lok Sabha in the present monsoon session. The country is witnessing huge protests by the farmers.

From the state of Punjab and Haryana farmers have been protesting against the latest agriculture policy. ‘Rail roko’ agitation across the state has been announced by the Punjab farmers’ body from September 24th to 26th 2020.

What is the new agriculture bill? Why is so much protest taking place against it? What are the important facts to know about farmers bill 2020 for the upcoming UPSC IAS exam? Let’s check it out one by one.

What are the Newly Passed Agriculture Ordinance in 2020?

• Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 – this was introduced by the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar.

This farm bill 2020 let the intra and interstate farmers produce even outside the premises of APMC markets without paying any extra market free, cess or levy as State governments are prohibited from levying any of those.

• Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020 – this was also introduced by the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar.

This farmers bill 2020 aims for framing contractual farming between a buyer and farmer, through an agreement. This should be done before the production of any agro product. Three-tier dispute settlement framework is provided here – Sub-Divisional Magistrate, the conciliation board and Appellate Authority.

• The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill – this was introduced by Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri Raosaheb Patil Danve.

This agriculture ordinance 2020 empowers the Government of India to control the supply of particular agro-food products under unusual situations like war. In case of a steep hike of price, stock limits can be applied on farm products.

Also Read :  WBCS 2020 Prelims Cut Off: 16th September Prelims Result & Important Dates Declared

Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020

How does it help?

• Removal of barriers for Intra/ inter-state business of agricultural products.
• Farmers can sell their product to anyone coming from anywhere.
• Seamless electronic trade is supported here.
• Encourages ending the monopoly of traders.
• Increased competition among consumers or buyers.
• Farmers get better and return thus increasing income rate.
• Free movement of agro products from surplus to deficit regions.
• This farm bill 2020 creates a national market.
• End consumer gets better items at cheaper prices.

Here’s all you need to know about new agriculture reform bill

Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020

• This agriculture reform bill opens the window for farmers to enter into agreements with large buyers, retailers and exporters.
• Farmers get to know the price before starting sowing.
• The market risk gets transferred to sponsor from farmers.
• High-quality seeds, pesticides and fertilisers can be availed by the farmers.
• Private investors will be interested in farming.
• A door to the global market.

The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill

• Many agro foods like pulses, onion, potatoes, oilseeds, cereals, and edible oils are removed from the essential commodities list by this farm bill 2020.
• Except under unusual circumstances, this newly passed agriculture bill does away with the imposition of stock limit.
• Business and traders get rid of harassment.
• With the improvement of storage facilities, the wastage rate is likely to get reduced.
• This latest agriculture policy aims for a stable price which will eventually help in raising farm incomes.

Reasons behind Protest against Agriculture Bill 2020

• The farmers fear that due to this latest agriculture policy, they might not get paid as per MSP act.
• Farmers want provision for legal actions to be taken if any agency buys agro products from them below the minimum support prices as per the MSP act.
• These newly passed bills threaten the commission agents operating between farmers and consumers as they fear that they might lose their commission.
• As per farmers, they think and believe that these farmers bill 2020 will help big business houses.
• Farmers are concerned about the fact that these agriculture bills in India will lead to two markets outside the mandis having different rules.

What is the APMC Act?

The model APMC Act, 2003 was created for contract forming and for enhancing the laws it was released to the states. For contract farming, 20 states have amended their APMC Act though Punjab follows a different law for this purpose.

The government believes that the newly passed agriculture bills in India will accelerate growth in the agricultural market through investment from private sectors and supply of agro products in national as well as international markets.

Hopefully, this article will help you get a clear understanding of the new agriculture bill 2020 and this will definitely help you prepare better for the upcoming UPSC IAS examination. Best of luck!

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Essay Curve

Essay on Farm Bill 2020 – Short Essay & Long Essay upto 1500 Words

Essay on Farm Bill 2020: The Farm Bill 2020 is a significant piece of legislation that impacts the agricultural sector in the United States. This comprehensive bill addresses a wide range of issues, including crop insurance, conservation programs, nutrition assistance, and support for rural development. In this essay, we will explore the key provisions of the Farm Bill 2020, its implications for farmers and consumers, and the debates surrounding its passage. By understanding the complexities of this legislation, we can better appreciate its importance in shaping the future of American agriculture.

Table of Contents

Farm Bill 2020 Essay Writing Tips

1. Introduction: Start your essay by providing an overview of the Farm Bill 2020. Mention its significance and impact on the agricultural sector in the United States.

2. Background: Provide a brief history of farm bills in the United States and explain why they are important for farmers and the agricultural industry.

3. Key provisions of the Farm Bill 2020: Discuss the main provisions of the Farm Bill 2020, such as crop insurance, commodity programs, conservation programs, and nutrition assistance programs.

4. Impact on farmers: Explain how the Farm Bill 2020 will impact farmers across the country. Discuss how it will help them manage risks, improve productivity, and access new markets.

5. Impact on the environment: Highlight the conservation programs included in the Farm Bill 2020 and discuss how they will help protect natural resources and promote sustainable farming practices.

6. Impact on nutrition assistance programs: Discuss the changes to nutrition assistance programs, such as SNAP, included in the Farm Bill 2020. Explain how these programs will help address food insecurity and improve access to healthy food for low-income families.

7. Criticisms and controversies: Address any criticisms or controversies surrounding the Farm Bill 2020. Discuss concerns raised by stakeholders and potential areas for improvement.

8. Conclusion: Summarize the key points of your essay and reiterate the importance of the Farm Bill 2020 for the agricultural sector in the United States. Discuss the potential long-term impact of the bill on farmers, the environment, and food security.

9. Writing tips: – Use clear and concise language to convey your ideas effectively. – Provide evidence and examples to support your arguments. – Structure your essay with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. – Use transitions to connect your ideas and make your essay flow smoothly. – Proofread your essay to check for any errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling.

Essay on Farm Bill 2020 in 10 Lines – Examples

1. The Farm Bill 2020 is a comprehensive piece of legislation that sets the policies and funding for various agricultural programs in the United States. 2. It is updated every five years and covers a wide range of issues including crop insurance, conservation, nutrition assistance, and rural development. 3. The Farm Bill 2020 allocates billions of dollars in funding to support farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. 4. It includes provisions to help farmers manage risk, improve conservation practices, and access new markets. 5. The bill also addresses food assistance programs such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and school meal programs. 6. It aims to promote sustainable agriculture practices, protect natural resources, and support the next generation of farmers. 7. The Farm Bill 2020 has a significant impact on the economy, environment, and food security of the country. 8. It is the result of a lengthy legislative process involving input from various stakeholders, including farmers, industry groups, and environmental organizations. 9. The Farm Bill 2020 was signed into law by President Donald Trump in December 2018 and will remain in effect until 2023. 10. Overall, the Farm Bill 2020 plays a crucial role in shaping the future of agriculture in the United States.

Sample Essay on Farm Bill 2020 in 100-180 Words

The Farm Bill 2020 is a comprehensive piece of legislation that addresses various aspects of agriculture and rural development in the United States. It provides funding for various programs such as crop insurance, conservation, nutrition assistance, and research. The bill also includes provisions to support farmers, ranchers, and rural communities, as well as promote sustainable agriculture practices.

One of the key components of the Farm Bill 2020 is the reauthorization of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food assistance to low-income individuals and families. The bill also includes funding for programs that support farmers markets, local food systems, and organic agriculture.

Overall, the Farm Bill 2020 aims to support the agricultural industry, promote food security, and protect natural resources. It plays a crucial role in shaping the future of agriculture in the United States and ensuring the well-being of farmers and rural communities.

Short Essay on Farm Bill 2020 in 200-500 Words

The Farm Bill 2020 is a comprehensive piece of legislation that governs various aspects of agriculture and food policy in the United States. It is a crucial piece of legislation that impacts farmers, ranchers, consumers, and the environment. The Farm Bill is typically renewed every five years, and the most recent version was signed into law in December 2018.

One of the key components of the Farm Bill 2020 is the reauthorization of various agricultural programs and subsidies. These programs provide financial assistance to farmers and ranchers, helping them to manage risk, improve productivity, and protect the environment. The Farm Bill also includes provisions for nutrition assistance programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps low-income individuals and families access healthy food.

Another important aspect of the Farm Bill 2020 is its support for conservation programs. These programs help farmers and ranchers implement practices that protect soil, water, and wildlife habitat. The Farm Bill provides funding for programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which help farmers implement conservation practices on their land.

The Farm Bill 2020 also includes provisions for rural development programs, which help support economic development in rural communities. These programs provide funding for infrastructure projects, business development, and job training programs in rural areas. By investing in rural development, the Farm Bill helps to create economic opportunities and improve the quality of life for rural residents.

In addition to these key components, the Farm Bill 2020 also includes provisions for crop insurance, research and extension programs, and international trade. These provisions help to support the agricultural industry, promote innovation, and expand market opportunities for farmers and ranchers.

Overall, the Farm Bill 2020 is a critical piece of legislation that impacts every aspect of the agricultural industry. By providing support for farmers, ranchers, and rural communities, the Farm Bill helps to ensure a stable and sustainable food supply for all Americans. It is essential that policymakers continue to prioritize the needs of farmers and ranchers in future Farm Bill negotiations, in order to support a thriving agricultural industry and a healthy food system for years to come.

Essay on Farm Bill 2020 in 1000-1500 Words

The Farm Bill of 2020 is a comprehensive piece of legislation that addresses various aspects of agriculture and food policy in the United States. It is a critical piece of legislation that impacts farmers, consumers, and the environment. The Farm Bill is typically passed every five years and is one of the most important pieces of legislation for the agricultural sector in the United States.

The Farm Bill of 2020 includes several key provisions that impact farmers and consumers. One of the most significant provisions of the Farm Bill is the reauthorization of various programs that provide financial assistance to farmers. These programs include crop insurance, commodity programs, and conservation programs. These programs help farmers manage risk, stabilize farm income, and protect the environment.

Another important provision of the Farm Bill is the nutrition assistance program, which provides food assistance to low-income individuals and families. This program, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), helps millions of Americans access healthy and affordable food. The Farm Bill of 2020 includes provisions that strengthen and improve the SNAP program, ensuring that vulnerable populations have access to the food they need.

The Farm Bill of 2020 also includes provisions that support rural development and agricultural research. These provisions help rural communities thrive, support agricultural innovation, and promote sustainable farming practices. The Farm Bill includes funding for programs that support rural infrastructure, such as broadband access and rural water systems. It also includes funding for agricultural research and extension programs that help farmers adopt new technologies and practices.

One of the key provisions of the Farm Bill of 2020 is the conservation title, which includes programs that help farmers protect and conserve natural resources. These programs help farmers implement conservation practices on their land, such as cover cropping, crop rotation, and wetland restoration. The Farm Bill also includes funding for programs that help farmers reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

Overall, the Farm Bill of 2020 is a critical piece of legislation that impacts farmers, consumers, and the environment. It provides financial assistance to farmers, ensures that vulnerable populations have access to healthy food, supports rural development, and promotes sustainable farming practices. The Farm Bill is a key tool for ensuring a strong and resilient agricultural sector in the United States.

In conclusion, the Farm Bill of 2020 is a comprehensive piece of legislation that addresses various aspects of agriculture and food policy in the United States. It includes provisions that support farmers, consumers, and the environment, and plays a critical role in ensuring a strong and resilient agricultural sector. The Farm Bill of 2020 is an important piece of legislation that impacts the lives of millions of Americans and plays a key role in shaping the future of agriculture in the United States.

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FACT SHEET: Celebrating Two Years of the Inflation Reduction Act

WASHINGTON, DC, August 16, 2024 – Two years ago, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in climate action and clean energy in world history. Key to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, this transformative law is lowering energy costs, creating new income streams, and tackling the climate crisis. The Inflation Reduction Act has given the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) historic resources to better serve communities nationwide.

"Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-Harris Administration ushered in a new era of innovation, prosperity for rural communities, and climate preparedness,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “The historic resources it provided have helped USDA meaningfully improve the lives of every American by lowering energy costs, reducing wildfire risk, and bringing more farmers into our high-demand conservation programs, and more.”

Combined with President Biden’s historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, American Rescue Plan, and other investments already underway, the Inflation Reduction Act makes a once-in-a-generation investment that supports rural communities and their infrastructure needs, while adapting to the climate crisis and creating better health outcomes for rural communities. Across USDA programs, the Inflation Reduction Act increases access to lower-cost clean energy, and climate-smart agriculture and conservation while creating good paying jobs. The legislation also protects communities from the increasing risks of wildfires and extreme heat.

These investments are contributing to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 initiative which aims to ensure 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

Building a Clean Energy Future

USDA is making the largest single investment in rural electrification since the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. In 2023, USDA made $13.2 billion available to build electrification infrastructure in rural America with clean, affordable, reliable energy and enhance the quality of life in rural communities. USDA is deploying this funding to ensure communities have access to clean energy that lowers their energy costs and generates new income.

With Inflation Reduction Act funding, USDA:

• Provided more than $525 million for 14 new clean energy projects that serve rural Americans through partially forgivable loans through the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program. USDA made $1 billion available in May 2023, and continues to roll out awards.
• Invested $605 million in 4,529 projects that help agricultural producers and rural small businesses invest in renewable energy systems and make energy-efficiency improvements through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA has invested $2.2 billion in over 7,200 REAP projects.
• Announced $181 million to support 222 projects through the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP) to increase the availability of domestic biofuels and give Americans additional cleaner fuel options at the pump.
• Will award $9.7 billion through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program that will help rural Americans transition to clean, affordable, and reliable energy. USDA is currently reviewing applications and expects to start announcing awards in the fall.

Investing in Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry

The Inflation Reduction Act takes aggressive action to address the climate crisis by making unprecedented funding available for USDA conservation, forestry and climate-smart agriculture programs.

The Act made $19.5 billion available for NRCS to address the demand for popular conservation programs that provide financial assistance to farmers and ranchers to help them both protect natural resources and enhance production. For Fiscal Year 2023, NRCS released data showing an investment of over $2.8 billion in financial assistance for conservation and supported more than 45,000 contracts, more than any year in the agency’s 89-year history. The agency released state-by-state data showing where investments went in FY23 for Farm Bill and Inflation Reduction Act funding.

For Fiscal Year 2024, which began October 1, 2023, the Inflation Reduction Act provided $1.65 billion for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), $754 million for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), and $472 million for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). In Fiscal Year 2023 and so far in Fiscal Year 2024, NRCS has partnered with over 18,000 landowners to converse 6.2 million acres through EQIP; and more than 5,800 to conserve nearly 7 million acres through CSP.

To further support conservation and climate-smart agriculture, NRCS also:

• Announced $90 million for 53 Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) projects to support the development and adoption of new tools, practices and technologies to further natural resource conservation and improve agricultural operations on private lands, including targeted projects to address enteric methane.
• Invested $138 million for new climate-smart conservation easements that farmers and ranchers use to conserve wetlands, grasslands and prime farmlands through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP).

The Inflation Reduction Act included $300 million to improve measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification (MMRV) of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration in climate-smart agriculture and forestry. NRCS continued to implement this strategy and released a set of webinars in July 2024 to provide public updates on implementation.

Building on the investments made in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act also made $4.9 billion in additional funding available to the Forest Service to protect communities from wildfire and invest in climate smart forestry.

Some notable examples of Forest Service investments from the Inflation Reduction Act include:

• More than $1 billion in competitive grants to increase equitable access to trees and green spaces in urban and community forests in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. Territories and Tribal Nations.
• $1.2 billion to reduce hazardous fuels and wildfire risk to communities, critical infrastructure, and natural resources across the country.
• $170 million to help conserve private forest lands for their values as places for recreation, as wildlife habitat, and as sustainable sources of wood and other forest products.
• $190 million to help private forest landowners adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change and retain working forestlands.
• $145 million to help connect forest landowners with emerging climate markets, supporting rural economies, and allowing underserved and small-acreage forest landowners be part of the fight against climate change.

Creating an Equitable Agricultural Future

The Inflation Reduction Act continues to invest in the future of producers by creating a diverse and equitable agriculture and food workforce, improving access to land and capital, and helping farmers keep farming. Recognizing producers have faced historic challenges as they work to feed and fuel our nation and world, USDA:

• Provided $2.4 billion to over 43,800 distressed direct and guaranteed Farm Service Agency (FSA) loan borrowers, helping them reach long-term stability and operate successful, thriving agricultural businesses.
• Provided $2 billion to 43,000 farmers , ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs prior to January 2021.
• Created the Increasing Land Access Program and selected 50 innovative projects totaling $300 million to help improve access to land, capital, and markets for underserved farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners.
• Launched the NextGen program in 2023 to build and sustain the next generation of food, agriculture, natural resources and human sciences workforce by investing $262.5 million in training and support for more than 20,000 food and agricultural leaders through 33 project partners.

For more information on the USDA’s implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, visit: www.usda.gov/ira .

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov .

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

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Agriculture trader the andersons names bill krueger as ceo.

(Bloomberg) -- The Andersons Inc. tapped Bill Krueger as chief executive officer, who will take the reins of the crop trader as it faces weaker global agricultural markets.

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Krueger, 57, currently chief operating officer, succeeds Pat Bowe beginning in October, the company said in a Monday statement. Bowe, an executive at crop trading giant Cargill Inc. before being tapped to be CEO of The Andersons in 2015, will remain chairman.

Bowe, 65, has overseen growth at the Ohio-based company that has operations in crop handling, biofuels, fertilizer and providing ingredients for markets such as racehorse feed and pet food. Krueger joined The Andersons in 2019 as part of the company’s $305 million takeover of grain trader Lansing Trade Group LLC.

“The acquisition of Lansing, where Bill came from as CEO, really propelled us to be much bigger and broader in our grain business and also trading lots of other commodities,” Bowe said Monday. “We would like to consider ourselves not to be a sleepy little grain company in Ohio, but really a broader ag company across North America.”

The company’s shares closed 1% lower in New York trading.

Krueger said he expects The Andersons to continue to expand on the grain side of its business as well as in its ingredients, renewables and agronomy units. “I would like to think that in five or 10 years we will be a larger version of ourselves today,” he said in an interview alongside Bowe.

Bumper global harvests have squeezed profits for agricultural commodities traders. The Andersons earlier this month reported a 30% drop in revenue for the second quarter. Others including Cargill and Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. have also recently reported weaker results.

Still, The Andersons could see greater profit growth, benefiting from better ethanol margins, strong grain sourcing and “savvy deals,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Jason Miner and Ama Kyerewaa wrote in an August note.

(Adds details in third paragraph, comments from current and incoming CEOs starting in the fourth, and updates share price.)

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Oil futures slide on tempered demand growth prospects.

Oil futures closest to expiration on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange extended losses Monday...

Oil Tracks Equity Rebound Ahead of Key Data Releases

Kruger named new ceo of the andersons.

The Andersons Picks Krueger as Company's Next President, CEO

Maumee, Ohio-based The Andersons announced Bill Krueger, the company's current chief operating officer, will take over as president and CEO...

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DTN Ag Policy Blog

Crp acreage rising, bumping up on acreage cap.

OMAHA (DTN) -- The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is "very near" its 27-million-acre cap after the latest enrollment added more than 2.2 million acres, USDA reported Monday.

Acreage numbers provided by USDA put the total CRP acreage around 26.4 million acres. That's the highest total acreage in the program since Fiscal Year 2013. The 2018 farm bill authorized CRP to top out at 27 million acres.

The Biden administration has spent the last four years increasing enrollment in CRP. When the administration took over in 2021, CRP acres was at 20.8 million acres, the lowest since the program began in the mid-1980s.

One driver helping boost acres is the popularity of the Grassland Conservation Reserve. USDA just added nearly 1.44 million to the Grassland CRP. Nebraska, Colorado and New Mexico lead the states with new acres under contract. Landowners this year will have more than 10 million acres total enrolled in the grasslands program this year.

"The popularity of our suite of Conservation Reserve Programs, including the significant success of Grassland Conservation Reserve Program and the fact that we are nearing the Conservation Reserve Program acreage cap, is a testament to the commitments made by the farmers, ranchers and landowners we serve to mitigate the impacts of climate change by conserving, protecting and enhancing our natural resources," said Zach Ducheneaux, Administrator of USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA). "It's through all FSA's conservation programs that we are able to work directly with agricultural producers to implement climate smart conservation practices that ultimately benefit everyone."

While Grassland CRP has lower rental rates than General and Continuous contracts, the grassland program allows landowners and livestock producers to continue grazing and hazing practices on those working lands. The program helps improve wildlife habitat and biodiversity while building resilience to drought and storing carbon in pastureland. The program also helps protect the ground from land-use conversion.

The Grassland CRP also has two national priority zones: One around the greater Yellowstone ecosystem and another in the "Dust Bowl" area. This year's enrollment added more than 560,000 acres in those priority zone areas. USDA stated conserving working lands help "underpin iconic big game migrations" along with broader conservation efforts.

Along with the new Grassland CRP acres, USDA this year added nearly 200,000 acres through the General signup, bringing the traditional CRP up to 7.9 million acres.

Continuous CRP has multiple subsets to it including wetlands and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Landowners added more than 565,000 Continuous CRP acres, which puts enrollment at 8.5 million acres.

Average National CRP Payments by Program as of April 2024:

General, $57.07 per acre

Continuous, $142.16

CREP, $212.63

Farmable Wetland $173,24

Grassland, $15.60

USDA reports show CRP contracts with more than 481,600 acres are set to expire at the end of September.

Chris Clayton can be reached at [email protected]

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Chris Clayton

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Times of San Diego

Local News and Opinion for San Diego

Newsom Targets Retail Theft, Signs Bills with New Penalties, Enforcement Tools

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Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a package of bills intended to crack down on organized retail theft.

Newsom, at a signing ceremony in a San Jose Home Depot, called the 10 bills “the most significant legislation to address property crime in modern California history.”

One of the bills, AB 3209 , creates the first-of-its-kind Retail Crime Restraining Order, authorizing courts to impose it upon conviction, or following two or more citations, for a theft offense, vandalism within a store, or battery on a store employee.

AB 3209 – authored by Assembly members Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) and Robert Rivas (D-Salinas), who is also the Assembly Speaker – is a key provision in the Assembly’s bipartisan legislative package addressing retail crime and theft in California.

WATCH: @CARetailers President & CEO Rachel Michelin on @CAGovernor Newsom’s multi-pronged approach and comprehensive efforts to combat organized retail theft: “The Governor has been our biggest advocate for years now.” pic.twitter.com/9R4ME06XXv — Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) August 16, 2024

The new laws, Berman said, “were crafted with our partners in the retail and grocery industries provide Californians with smart and thoughtful solutions to reduce retail crime.”

AB 3209 was supported by Attorney General Rob Bonta, the California Retailers Association , the California Chamber of Commerce and the League of California Cities.

“This bill provides a new enforcement tool that will keep stores and workers safe from crime as rates of retail theft and robbery have risen in California,” said Rachel Michelin, president and CEO of the retailers association, adding that the law “will help safeguard our local businesses, protecting the livelihoods of hardworking employees and promote a safer and more prosperous retail shopping environment for all.”

The other bills in the package signed by Newsom target smash and grabs and car break-ins and theft,s while adding harsher penalties and sentencing enhancements for large-scale theft operations.

Recent trends in retail theft and commercial robberies vary throughout the state. The Bay Area had the highest reported rates of shoplifting in California in 2022. The legislature sought to address the issue of retail theft, as well as vandalism and assault on employees, by establishing a Select Committee on Retail Theft.

Last year, the California Highway Patrol reported an annual  310%  increase in operations targeting organized retail crime, while  special operations rolled out across  the state to fight crime and improve public safety.

Since January 2024,  the CHP’s Organized Retail Crime Task Force  is on track to surpass its work in 2023, making 884 arrests and recovering more than a quarter of a million stolen goods valued at over $7.2 million.