Ag Policy Blog

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will attend a White House meeting on the farm bill on Thursday, a spokesperson confirmed this afternoon.

Politico reported earlier Wednesday that President Biden had invited the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Agriculture committees to come to the White House to discuss the farm bill.

The meeting is expected to highlight the challenges of trying to pass a farm bill amid the current fight over the debt limit.

Politico said a White House official said Vilsack was expected to attend the meeting, and his communications office confirmed his attendance today.

Biden is expected to attend the meeting, which will take place between a White House meeting Monday of Biden and top congressional leaders including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on the debt ceiling impasse and another meeting of Biden and the congressional leaders scheduled for Friday.

The debt ceiling measure passed by the House Republicans includes a provision to impose work requirements on more of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries who are categorized as Able-Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWDs). Democrats oppose the provision.

https://www.politico.com/…

Senate Ag Republicans Publish Study on Farm Expenses

The Senate Agriculture Committee Republicans on Tuesday released a new analysis of farm production expenses.

Last week, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., noted that some farm production expenses that had risen have gone down.

"The report looks at the input cost pressure farmers are facing and how that impacts the need to update and protect farm risk management tools," a spokesman for Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in an email.

The Boozman spokesman said the "key takeaways" from the report are:

- Farm production expenses were projected to be record-high in 2023 at nearly $500 billion, up 28% or $87 billion under this administration.

- While diesel fuel and fertilizer prices have fallen slightly from their record highs one year ago, the prices for fuel and fertilizers remain 60% to 130% higher than their January 2021 levels.

- Other farm expenses such as land, cash rents, labor, farm equipment, and interest expenses continue to increase or are holding near record highs – indicating that inflationary pressure on agricultural input costs continues to be acutely felt by farmers.

Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jhagstrom@nationaljournal.com

Follow him on Twitter @hagstromreport

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