Farm bill lobbying continues as markup approaches

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., announced some concessions on nutrition policy as the markup on the farm bill approaches Thursday morning, but negotiations over provisions appear to be continuing.

Amid rumors of cancellation, a Boozman spokesperson said, “I want to be clear that Chairman Boozman is holding a markup.”

In a news release, Boozman said he had made an offer that includes:

• Allowing states the option to use either fiscal year 2026 or fiscal year 2027 error rate data when calculating their fiscal year 2029 benefit cost share in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
• Increasing funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program commodity purchases to provide more domestic markets for farmers and producers while ensuring better access to nutritious, domestically grown foods for families and food banks that support them.

“This is a good-faith effort to respond to concerns of states by making meaningful improvements including these updates to nutrition policy. We have a real opportunity Thursday to advance a bipartisan bill to the Senate floor that delivers the long overdue certainty farmers, ranchers and producers need. I’m hopeful this proposal can unlock that potential,” Boozman said.

In response, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, told The Hagstrom Report in a text message: “I am committed to working with Chairman Boozman on this bill to get it done, and there are good things in it for our farmers and ranchers. I also appreciate that he has acknowledged the problem with the SNAP cost shift to states and counties. But amid tariff-related rising grocery prices in states across the country where SNAP has been critical, this is only a one-year fix. It still advantages high error rates states over states with mid-level error rates. A state with an error rate twice that of Minnesota will pay nothing in the second year, whereas states that have reduced their error rates will still be disadvantaged over high error rate states. Our members are simply asking for the two-year delay so all states will be on the same footing in working to reduce their error rates. That is 10% of the total SNAP cuts.”

The Democratic-leaning National Farmers Union sent a letter to Boozman and Klobuchar, urging them to make “key improvements” to the bill.

In the letter, NFU President Rob Larew acknowledged progress in the bill’s most recent draft, including the permanent, year-round authorization of E15, but said that the legislation as currently written falls short of what family farmers and ranchers need.

“After years of delays, family farmers and ranchers need a bipartisan farm bill that addresses today’s challenges and strengthens our food system for the future,” wrote Larew. “But as currently drafted, the legislation does not rise to meet the challenges family farmers are facing.”

In a separate letter, NFU joined the Republican-leaning American Farm Bureau Federation in urging committee leadership to support an amendment from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to codify the USDA’s recently finalized Packers and Stockyards Act rules.

The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association self-published an article urging the addition of mandatory country-of-origin labeling for meat in the bill.