In visit to Idaho, agriculture leaders call on Congress to pass a farm bill

Several agriculture and industry leaders called on Congress to pass a new farm bill during a visit to Boise on Friday that was organized by the Western Caucus Foundation.

A federal farm bill is a massive bill typically passed by Congress every five years. The farm bill includes payments and support programs for farmers, a federal nutritional program, programs to address wildlife habitat, climate change and more. Congress hasn’t passed a farm bill since 2018. The most recent farm bill expired in 2023, but was extended through the end of September, States Newsroom previously reported.  

“It’s time we have a farm bill,” American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall said. “We are very appreciative of the extension that we got, but I will tell you, the current farm bill does not – does not – fit the needs of American agriculture today. Whether it’s COVID, whether it’s inflation, whatever it might be, it does not fit the needs that agriculture has today. And it is time for us to get this done.”

Duvall made his remarks during a panel discussion Friday at JUMP Boise as part of a three-day “Fire, Food and Ranching” field tour and policy forum highlighting agriculture, land use permitting, wildfire and Western issues. 

Five Republican members of Congress attended Friday’s panel discussion with agriculture and industry leaders, including U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho; U.S. Reps. Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher, both R-Idaho; U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif.; and U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn.

The U.S. House Agriculture Committee passed a farm bill proposal in May, States Newsroom previously reported, but the Senate Agriculture Committee has not passed a farm bill. The proposal that the House Agriculture Committee passed does not have support from Democrats in the Senate or the White House, States Newsroom previously reported.

Fulcher said he thinks Congress hasn’t passed a farm bill yet this year because of the amount of funding involved and the inclusion of nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.

“It’s really not a farm bill anymore,” Fulcher said. “It’s a SNAP bill. When you take 80-plus percent of a $1.5 trillion bill and you focus it on food sustenance programs, SNAP, the old food stamp program, one could argue it’s not a farm bill anymore, and there’s a lot of members (of Congress) that struggle with that. I think this comes around every five years, and my understanding is it was $800 billion five years ago, and it’s $1.5 trillion now.”

LaMalfa, who sits on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, said he hopes Congress will pass a farm bill before the end of the year. But he cautioned ag leaders that it may not get done until after the Nov. 5 general election, but before the next Congress convenes in January.

“Now, you know, we’re stuck in this mess here before the election, so we have to hope we can get it in in the lame duck session,” LaMalfa said. “And I’m sorry about that everybody. I’m just as frustrated as everybody else on that.”

The “Fire, Food and Ranching” tour also included a stop for the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise on Friday. A visit to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise is scheduled for Saturday.