US food security, prices are 'under attack' while farmers and lawmakers fight for Farm Bill
Revamped Farm Bill can’t be passed until House speaker is chosen; senators, farmers weigh in
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American farmers have been plagued this year with drought conditions and heavy-handed government, and now a standstill on the federal Farm Bill is leaving their livelihoods with more questions and uncertainties.
"We need a Farm Bill. We need it done right," Missouri Farm Bureau President Garrett Hawkins told FOX News Digital on Friday. "Done right in the sense that we have a safety net that's there only when farmers need it, that ultimately leads to food security for this country. Food security is national security," he expanded.
"The excessive regulations, the nonstop pace of all these agencies, some of which people in real America have never even heard of, but that can wipe out an entire industry and put farmers and ranchers out of business," Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., also criticized while speaking to Digital.
"The farmers and ranchers of Missouri and across the country know what's best for their land. They're the original conservationists. They're great stewards of the land," the senator continued. "They want to feed America and feed the world, and we ought to get government out of the way so they can go do that."
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Joined by Arkansas Republican Sen. John Boozman over the weekend, the two senators gained an on-the-ground perspective from leaders of the agricultural industry by touring local Missouri farms and partaking in a roundtable discussion for the upcoming reauthorization of the Farm Bill.
U.S. farmers and ranchers who rely on the federal Farm Bill as a "safety net" have been left with uncertainty of when revamped legislations will get passed, Missouri Farm Bureau President Garrett Hawkins told FOX News Digital. (Getty Images)
The federal legislative package, which provides programs and support for family-owned farms, was approved for a five-year term in 2018, and just recently expired on Sept. 30. However, a revamped Farm Bill can’t be passed until a House speaker is chosen.
"We need to make sure that Congress sees the priority of making sure that we have a Farm Bill done," Hawkins said. "We love being able to share resources on the ground, knowing that the environmental benefits that we provide on our farms and ranches benefit all Americans. So we want a farm bill that reflects and invests in conservation, gives us the tools that we need to protect our air, our soil, and our water."
The senators put the onus on poor legislative decisions that have hurt farmers and their businesses most, including state-specific regulations and not making amendments to the outdated national Farm Bill.
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"The AG Department has come back and just kind of rewritten what they did in the past. So that makes it such that it gives farmers great uncertainty, pesticide regulations, all of the things that make it more difficult for farmers to be efficient," Boozman said. "Our farmers are doing a good job. It's just the uncertainty of various rules. You can play with bad rules, you can play with good rules. If you don't know what the rules are, it makes it difficult. That's where we are now with USDA."
"Prop 12 in California. I think there's a deep concern among the people we heard from today [that] it's going to spread across the country," Sen. Schmitt noted. "And that puts our farmers and ranchers, quite frankly, out of business and in violation, I think, really fundamental issues of interstate commerce, and these sort of radical trade barriers that states like California want to put up are a real danger."
Farmer Todd Olander drives through his grain crops in Colorado. | Getty Images
The Farm Bureau president, who’s a cattle rancher himself, specifically called out "a blanket war on American energy" threatening food security and prices.
"A lot of our fellow Americans don't realize that farmers and ranchers are huge consumers of energy. And it's a critical part of food security in this country. The war on American energy impacts all of us, from farmers and ranchers who are producing homegrown biofuels, to creating uncertainty that when we flip on the lights or turn on the fans to take care of our livestock, that we're going to have the electricity that we need and it's going to be affordable. Not only does the war on American energy impact our pocketbooks, but it tramples on private property rights," Hawkins explained.
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Schmitt agreed that declaring war on the oil and gas industry serves as the "formula" to higher inflation. This September, the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 0.4% from the previous month, above estimated levels.
"When you declare war on domestic energy production and you spend money you don't have recklessly. You get higher prices on everything. And our farmers and ranchers are feeling that every day," the Missouri senator said.
"For the average American who's not on the farm, that means higher food costs when they go to the grocery store," Schmitt continued. "So I think the reckless policies of this administration as it relates to energy production, again, declaring war there and they continue to advocate for bloated budgets, is having a real impact on everybody."
Adding to food costs, Midwestern farmers have faced a significant lack of rain this year, with drought currently impacting 50% of the Midwest region, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
"We have to make sure that we are being mindful that regulations, while sometimes well-intentioned, have the opposite effect and actually are the most burdensome on small and medium-sized farms - whether in Missouri, Arkansas or Washington or Maine."
"Whether it's my neighbors, my family itself, ourselves, or other farmers in the state, we are undeterred in our commitment to feeding our neighbors here, all across the country and around the world," Hawkins said. "These challenges are tough, but we're going to weather it. And what we expect is for Congress to help us by passing a Farm Bill that continues the safety net and gives us the tools that we need."
Describing the current state of American agriculture, the three men provided symmetry in their answers: "under attack," "uncertainty," and "undeterred."
"This assault that they're seeing from the federal government under the guise of virtue signaling in this climate alarmism is going to have far-reaching impacts," Sen. Schmitt said. "There's no way you get to net-zero [emissions] by 2050 unless you start denying loans to creditworthy applicants, including farmers and ranchers, because they have too many diesel vehicles on their property."
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"Within world events, you can have an outbreak with China where China quits buying products, [a] significant drop in commodity prices. Farmers live their lives by being indebted. They borrow a lot of money to produce the crops that they have, not knowing for sure, and then we've got these weather patterns," Boozman pointed out. "And then on top of that is, as the senator said, you've got the federal government, sometimes the state governments, making it such that the regulatory atmosphere is so, so very difficult. So we've got to do our best to provide the certainties they need so that they continue on doing the great job that they do for the American public."
"We are undeterred in our commitment to being good stewards and pillars in our communities. We truly are committed to bringing the next generation of farmers and ranchers home to rural America," Hawkins added. "And we need all of our fellow Americans to stand with us as we work to get a new Farm Bill passed, as we work for common sense energy policy, as well as push back against overreaching regulations that make it hard to do what we do best."
House Republicans, on Wednesday, elected Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., to become the next speaker. Sen. Boozman expanded on his "commitment" to make sure they understand how important the Farm Bill is.
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"We're all working together in this to make sure that we are able to provide a farm bill that works for our farmers, works for our consumers, America, and the rest of the world," he said.
FOX Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.
