Boozman calls for markup this week as comments continue

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., said Tuesday it is important to hold the markup of Farm Bill 2.0 scheduled for Thursday as more groups issued statements on the bill.

“The Senate Agriculture Committee has a critical opportunity this week to move the farm bill forward, and America’s farm families cannot afford another delay,” Boozman said in an email to The Hagstrom Report.

“Stakeholders across agriculture are urging Congress to deliver certainty for America’s farm families facing significant challenges that could undermine our food security. The stakes are high for producers who have been operating since 2023 without the certainty and updated policies they need.

“Farm Bill 2.0 answers this call with strong support for farmers, ranchers and rural communities,” he added.

Boozman urged his fellow committee members to “step up and provide the votes” to advance this bill to the Senate floor.

On Monday, Boozman also told AgDay anchor Haley Bickelhaupt: “We need to act this week, or we run out of time.”

Boozman also told AgDay that finishing the markup Thursday would allow the committee to use August to pre-conference the bill with the House Agriculture Committee so that the bill could be brought up on the Senate floor in September.

With Sen. Mitch McConell, R-Ky., still recovering from a fall and not present in the Senate, Boozman needs Democratic support to push the bill out of committee.

It’s still unclear how Democrats will vote. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., ranking member on the committee and a candidate for governor of Minnesota, is participating in a Farmfest gubernatorial event in Minnesota today.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., a member of the committee, said in a statement earlier this week that he opposes the bill.

“The Republican farm bill released on Friday fails to meet the moment of crisis facing America’s farmers and families,” Booker said. “Democrats should remain united and only support a farm bill that includes a clean two-year delay of the SNAP cost shift to states. The bill must also provide immediate, meaningful assistance for the hundreds of thousands of small and mid-sized farmers — including livestock, dairy, fruit, vegetable, and diversified producers — who have been left behind by federal farm policy for far too long.”

Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance CEO Sylvia Blain noted that the bill includes a one-year delay in new state cost-share requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and said, “This one-year delay gives our state valuable time to prepare responsibly for the road ahead. At the same time, we recognize the urgency of finalizing negotiations and passing a bipartisan farm bill. Arkansas farmers and the families who rely on the programs this legislation supports need the certainty that only a completed farm bill can provide.”

Blain added, “The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance’s focus remains on the well-being of Arkansans facing hunger and the policies that support them. The organization will continue working with Arkansas’ congressional delegation and our partners across the state to support timely, bipartisan passage of a farm bill that protects nutrition programs like SNAP and serves Arkansas farmers, families, and communities. We encourage Congress to build on this progress and bring negotiations to a close without further delay.”

Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas CEO Christie Jordan said on Facebook that the food bank “appreciates Sen. Boozman’s proposed one-year delay on the SNAP benefit cost share for states as part of ongoing farm bill discussions and efforts to pass a bipartisan bill.

“The farm bill is a critical piece of legislation that growers and ranchers in our state need to ensure that farming is a viable way of life in the future. Successful farms ensure better food security for our neighbors, our state, and our nation.”

The Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas is an affiliate of Feeding America, but that national group told The Hagstrom Report earlier this week that it has not taken a position on the bill moving forward.

Iowa Corn Growers Association President Mark Mueller, a farmer from Waverly, Iowa, said, “ICGA remains fully committed to working alongside Congress and our industry partners to push this legislation across the finish line for America’s farmers and families.

“The Senate farm bill’s inclusion of year-round E15 is a welcomed sight for Iowa’s corn growers, who have championed nationwide access to higher blends of ethanol for years.

“Beyond E15, several other critical Iowa corn priorities earned a spot in the Senate draft,” Mueller said. “This includes the Fertilizer Transparency Act, a key effort ICGA helped champion alongside Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Ashley Hinson [both Republicans] to bring fair pricing and oversight to farm inputs. Along with an increase in USDA’s MAP and FMD funding for trade promotion specifically with our partners from the U.S. Grains and BioProducts Council and U.S. Meat Export Federation, it also includes an extension of the Genomes to Phenome research program.”

A group called the Fueling American Jobs Coalition urged lawmakers not to advance the E15 provision in the bill.

“At a time when Americans continue to face high energy costs, Congress should not use a must-pass farm bill to advance a proposal that will raise gas prices by expanding year-round E15 without meaningful Renewable Fuel Standard reform,” the group said.

The American Petroleum Institute has already announced its opposition to the provision as written.

The Food Research & Action Center on Tuesday sent out an alert to its members to tell their senators to “reject this flawed proposal. Tell your senators that a farm bill must support farmers and families, and SNAP must be restored, strengthened, and protected.”

Ranjani Prabhakar, Earthjustice Action’s legislative director for healthy communities, urged Klobuchar and other Democrats to reject the bill.

“The Senate’s proposed farm bill would prop up corporations and polluters instead of helping our farmers grow and supply the high-quality and affordable food Americans deserve,” Prabhakar said. “Any senator committed to supporting America’s farmers, transitioning from the costly cycle of GHG and chemical-intensive growing practices, and protecting critical ecosystems should vote against a bill that would actively harm our communities, endangered species and public lands and waters.”

“In addition to including a new provision allowing for the year-round sale of E15, which would have serious impacts on our air, wildlife, and environment, the bill would:

• “Cut $2 billion from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program while steering subsidies to the largest agribusiness operations.
• “Keep harmful policy changes that shift more of the cost of running the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the states, burdening already-strained state budgets while working families face high food prices and rising costs.
• “Prioritize the logging industry with dramatic exemptions to the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and tribal consultation that will almost certainly increase wildfire risk.”

A group called Beyond Pesticides also sent out an alert urging opposition to the bill.

“At the vote on Thursday, Aug. 6, several senators may be introducing amendments that seek to strip some of the damaging provisions out of the bill,” the group said. “If and when the Republican majority votes these amendments down, it will set the stage for an organizing effort against the bill on the Senate floor.”