Ag Policy Blog

WASHINGTON (DTN) -- Three leaders on the House and Senate Agriculture speaking this week presented conflicting ideas that signal great uncertainty over some key agricultural topics.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark.; House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Pa.; and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., all spoke about farm legislation pending in Congress at the Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit.

While lawmakers talked about the need to pass legislation for farmers, Congress is also preparing to take its break for the Easter holiday.

Thompson said he is speaking to the various Republican caucuses in the House and individually with the seven Democrats who voted for the farm bill in committee.

"This bill is going to pass, but it needs to pass with strong bipartisan support out of the House because Boozman needs that," Thompson said.

He also maintained that there is "nothing poisonous" about provisions to curb Proposition 12 in California and ban state-level pesticide labeling, even though Boozman has said it would be hard to get the bill through the Senate with controversial measures.

Thompson said he couldn't imagine the "chaos" that could come from 50 different pesticide labels.

"I rely on EPA to get it right," Thompson said, in reference to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Thompson repeated recent statements that he wants $10 billion in aid for specialty crop growers in addition to the $15 billion overall package that Boozman and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Hoeven, R-N.D., are working on. Told by DTN that Boozman and Hoeven already have $5 billion for specialty crop growers in their proposal, Thompson said he would need only an additional $5 billion for the specialty crop industry plus $200 million for sawmills.

"If sawmills go out of business, you don't have (a lumber) industry," he said.

Thompson said he has no idea how the farm aid package can move, but he would be open to the supplemental appropriations bill or another reconciliation bill.

He also said he wants one more review of the report he has written on immigration and then will release the bill.

In her remarks, Klobuchar, who is running for governor, noted that "Minnesota was at the center of America's heartbreak and hope this year."

Klobuchar focused her remarks on the cost and availability of fertilizer and the bills she has co-sponsored on fertilizer this week.

She said Congress would be "nuts" if it does not pass a bill to legalize E15 fuel nationwide year-round.

On the farm bill, she said that it must address the unfairness of shifting part of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to the states. The states with the highest error rates "got off scot-free" in order to get the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed, while states with mid-level error rates like Minnesota have to pay more.

"I know how sausage gets made, but this needs to be delayed," she said.

"These days are the most consequential for agriculture that we are ever going to see," Klobuchar said, adding she wants to make sure that kids growing up on farms right now are going to be able to keep farming.

Boozman emphasized that he and Klobuchar recently held a hearing on increasing the domestic demand for farm products.

"What we have done in the past is not working now," Boozman said. "If you grow something in the ground, you are losing money."

Boozman said he favors a bill to increase the market for cotton and for E15 but made it clear that he wants to be sure small refiners survive. He said that "for so long, Big Oil was neutral (in the debate over ethanol)" but he now believes Big Oil wants to "get rid" of the small refineries. Boozman said he is concerned about the only refinery in Arkansas that produces jet fuel and gasoline.

"It is a big deal," Boozman said, adding that not only jobs but "an entire supply chain" could be lost. He said Tennessee and Oklahoma are concerned, too.

Boozman said he is in favor of passing E15 but not if Big Oil refineries are forcing consolidation.

Boozman said he wants to get the farm bill done "as soon as possible -- in weeks, not months and months," but he rejected Klobuchar's insistence on delaying the state share of SNAP costs. If a payment error is less than $58 per month, it doesn't count even though the average SNAP participant gets $200 per month, he said.

"Minnesota plays fast and loose" with social programs, Boozman said.

Boozman also said he is supportive of efforts to curb Proposition 12 and to avoid state pesticide labels, but "on the other hand, we can't be in a position of holding up the farm bill because we can't get it done. My focus is for farmers to quit coming in and saying, 'Senator, when are we going to get it done?'"

Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jhagstrom@nationaljournal.com

Follow him on social platform X @hagstromreport

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