For decades, Land Stewardship Project members have been organizing to ensure that our federal farm policy serves people and the land, not corporate interests. This latest Farm Bill cycle has been no different. With approximately $1.5 trillion on the table, it’s important that LSP members are engaged in the process of drafting and passing a new Farm Bill. Following a series of listening sessions, one-to-one conversations, and surveys, LSP’s Farm Bill Organizing Committee launched our New Farm Bill Platform in August 2022. LSP members and leaders across the organization and the Upper Midwest have been actively organizing for our top priorities: 

1. Crop Insurance for small, beginning, and diversified farms.
2. Historic investments in improving land access and beginning farmers.
3. Protecting and strengthening working lands conservation and climate programs.
4. Building a more competitive, less consolidated, farm and food system.

In the last year alone: 

• Fourteen LSP farmer-members have traveled to Washington, D.C., to share their stories with members of Congress and their staff.
• Five LSP farmer-members have shared their stories in the media.
• Two LSP farmer-members have testified in-person in Congressional hearings.
• Nearly 200 LSP farmer-members have signed farmer sign-on letters calling on members of Congress to be champions for people and the land.
• More than 250 LSP members, supporters, and partners have attended dozens of in-person and virtual Farm Bill events.
• Over 1,100 LSP members have repeatedly taken action by contacting their members of Congress about LSP’s Farm Bill priorities.

A new Farm Bill is drafted approximately every five years, and the current law was due to expire in 2023. However, Congress failed to pass a new bill last fall, so they’ve extended the current legislation until Sept. 30. That means LSP and its allies still have time to have an impact on this major piece of public policy. On May 1, the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee released its draft Farm Bill. An analysis of what’s contained in this proposed legislation indicates how the hard work of LSP and our allies has paid off in some areas — and how we need to continue to build power and shift the public narrative in others. 

While the U.S. House Agriculture Committee released its Farm Bill Framework at the same time, it’s too vague to adequately analyze in this blog. Keep reading to learn more about how LSP’s top priorities fared in the Senate’s proposal and stay tuned for more information about the House’s proposal.

Crop Insurance for Small, Beginning & Diversified Farms

During this Farm Bill cycle, one of LSP’s top priorities has been ensuring that small, beginning, and diversified farms have an accessible, effective safety net. This is more important than ever in the face of climate change, which exposes farmers to extreme, unprecedented weather events such as droughts and floods — often in the same month.  

In partnership with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), LSP members have been advocating for the inclusion of the Whole Farm Revenue Protection Improvement Act in the next Farm Bill. This legislation would increase the accessibility, efficacy, and success of the Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) Program and Micro-Farm Program, particularly for small and beginning farmers. 

LSP members organized around this by flying to Washington, D.C., to share their stories, organizing a letter signed by over 125 Minnesota farmers that successfully secured Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s co-authorship of the legislation, meeting directly with staffers that work for Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow, and more.  

As a result, the Senate’s proposed Farm Bill includes a majority of the provisions of the Whole Farm Revenue Protection Improvement Act. Some key provisions included are: 

• Providing a “whole farm” option for coverage for beginning farmers and providing flexibility for beginning farmers to establish a revenue guarantee.
• Directing the establishment of a streamlined process for submission of records and acreage reports to assist producers in graduating on a voluntary basis to the WFRP or Micro Farm insurance.
• Directing the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) to simplify Micro Farm coverage for producers with less than $1 million in revenue.
• Providing for increased buy-up coverage levels — up to 70% and 75% coverage for non-forage crops.
• Increasing the limit on growth expansion, which is particularly important for quickly growing beginning farms. A recent Star Tribune commentary by Andy Petran, LSP member and owner of Twin Cities Berry Company, provides details on why this matters.
• Improving access to agents experienced in selling WFRP plans, providing additional educational and training opportunities to approved insurance providers and insurance agents, and creating a pilot program for a “pricing library” for agents and insurance providers.

Land Access & Beginning Farmers

Another top LSP priority during this Farm Bill cycle has been getting more farmers on the land. Our farm and food system is more resilient and just with more farmers stewarding the land growing food for their communities, but so many people who want to farm are facing significant barriers to getting established and sustaining their businesses. 

That’s why, in partnership with the Midwest Farmers of Color Collective (MFCC) and the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC), LSP members have been advocating for including in the Farm Bill the Increasing Land Access, Security, and Opportunities (LASO) Act, which reauthorizes the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program with an infusion of $100 million.  

This innovative  legislation, championed by Minnesota U.S. Senator Tina Smith, would fund powerful, community-led solutions to the land access crisis facing the new generation of young and Black farmers, Indigenous farmers, and farmers of color. Inclusion of this legislation in the Farm Bill would be a significant victory for everyone who has been fighting to win federal funding to address issues of equitable land access, retention, and transition. This bill will increase access to capital for underserved farmers, boost training and economic opportunity for beginner farmers, and help make land more affordable for BIPOC farmers. 

LSP members organized around this by flying to Washington, D.C., to share their stories with members of Congress and their staff, making their voices heard in the media, organizing a letter from Minnesota farmers to Senator Klobuchar, and more. As a result of this visit and other work, U.S. Minnesota Representatives Angie Craig, Betty McCollum, and Ilhan Omar agreed to be co-authors of this legislation. 

Unfortunately, the LASO Act was not included in the proposed Senate Farm Bill. However, we are working with Senator Smith’s office and partners to offer an amendment to add it into the text. As part of this work, in early June an LSP member will be testifying before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee in support of the LASO Act. 

To learn more about other legislation related to land access and beginning farmer issues, check out NYFC’s blog here. 

Working Lands Conservation & Climate Programs

The  Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)  are essential initiatives that give tens of thousands of farmers the tools they need to implement sustainable practices such as cover cropping and managed rotational grazing.  Yet, a significant majority of farmers who apply to these programs are unable to access funding.  In 2023, only 12% of CSP applicants in Minnesota were awarded contracts, less than half the national average of 30%, according to an analysis by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. In 2023, 22% of EQIP applicants in Minnesota were awarded contracts; the national average is 25%.  

At the same time, hundreds of millions of dollars  in EQIP and Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) funds were spent on supporting concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and mega-cropping operations, providing little environmental benefit and, in some cases, causing great environmental harm. 

LSP members, alongside allies at NSAC and the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, have been organizing to ensure that: 

• Funding for working lands conservation programs is bolstered, or at least maintained.
• Climate guardrails included in the Inflation Reduction Act are maintained.
• A significant portion of EQIP funding for small farms is set aside.
• EQIP is improved by (a) reducing the maximum grant that can be given out from $450,000 to $150,000, and (b) eliminating the requirement that 50% of EQIP funding goes to livestock operations. LSP believes that EQIP should be providing smaller grants to more farmers, rather than large grants to a smaller number of producers, and that these dollars should be used for practices that are truly good for our soil, water, climate, and air. Many of these dollars are currently spent on factory farm infrastructure, such as waste facility covers, waste storage facilities, and anaerobic manure digesters.
• Working lands conservation programs and climate initiatives aren’t fueling consolidation and economic disparities in our farm and food system by funding factory farms and large-scale manure digesters.

LSP members organized around this issue by flying to D.C. to share their stories with members of Congress and their staff on multiple occasions, making their voices heard in the media, and consistently contacting their members of Congress about these issues. This advocacy produced mixed results. 

Positive provisions in the Senate proposal include: 

• Permanently authorizes conservation programs for the first time and increases access to climate-smart agriculture and conservation resources.
• Increases funding for conservation programs supported by the Inflation Reduction Act and mostly continues to be dedicated to climate-smart agriculture.
• Creates a 10% set-aside of EQIP funds for practices implemented on small farms.
• Requires producers with confined livestock feeding operations to submit a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan, in addition to the currently required comprehensive nutrient management plan, in order to be eligible to receive payments under EQIP.
• Expands the purposes of the Regional Conservation Partnership Program to include “facilitating the conversion from concentrated animal feeding operations to climate-friendly agricultural production systems (including regenerative grazing, agroforestry, organic, and diversified crop and livestock production systems).”

Negative provisions in the Senate proposal include:

• Doubling down on using programs like EQIP, CSP, and REAP for anaerobic manure digesters in a variety of ways.
• Continuing the 50% livestock set-aside for EQIP funding not appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act. 
• Maintaining the $450,000 cap for EQIP.

LSP members will continue to make their voices heard to ensure that working lands conservation and climate programs are truly investing in small and mid-sized farms using practices that build soil health, clean our water, address climate change, and build resiliency.

Competition

As our farm and food system has become more consolidated, it has also become significantly less competitive, driving small and mid-sized farms, processors, and food businesses out of business. As the Food and Environment Reporting Network recently reported: “… a handful of giant corporations — from Cargill to Bayer to JBS — has taken control of every aspect of agriculture, from producing and selling seeds and fertilizers to the processing, distribution, and retail sales of the foods farmers produce. In 2023, those companies and their related associations collectively spent more than $178 million — more than the defense industry — on lobbying to sustain and extend their power.”

To have a fair and resilient farm and food system, it is imperative that Congress leverages the next Farm Bill to make meaningful progress on the issue go consolidation. 

As a part of the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, LSP members have been organizing to ensure that Congress enforces, rather than weakens, the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA), a comprehensive set of regulations that takes a meaningful step toward leveling the playing field in our farm and food system. LSP farmer-members and our allies have specifically been organizing in opposition to efforts to interfere with the USDA’s Packers and Stockyards Act rulemaking process and in support of creating an Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters to strengthen enforcement. LSP members have primarily been involved in this effort through coalitions, as well as by flying to D.C. to share their stories with members of Congress and their staff. 

LSP is thrilled to see that the Senate’s proposal does not interfere with PSA rulemaking and establishes an Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters. This office will,  according to draft language, “use all available tools to investigate and prosecute violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act, maintain staff attorneys and other appropriate professionals, and coordinate with USDA’s Office of the General Counsel and the Packers and Stockyards Division of the Agricultural Marketing Service.” The proposal also requires USDA to report on consolidation and concentration within the livestock industry and its impacts on farmers, ranchers, and consumers.

Get Involved

While it’s exciting to see movement from Congress on the Farm Bill, there is still a lot of work ahead before it crosses the finish line. The House and Senate proposals will no doubt be significantly different from each other and it will take some serious negotiation to land on an agreement. LSP will continue to give you opportunities to take action in meaningful ways. For now, here are three steps you can take: 

1. Take Action: Call on U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow to include the LASO Act in the Senate’s proposed Farm Bill.
2. Take Action: Urge your members of Congress to stand against false climate “solutions” and factory farm funding.
3. Join LSP as a member, renew your membership, or make a special gift to support our policy and programmatic work.

LSP policy manager Amanda Koehler can be reached via e-mail.