Pork producers ‘deeply disappointed’ in Senate farm bill

Pork producers say they’re “deeply disappointed” that U.S. Senate Democrats did not address California’s Proposition 12 in the proposed farm bill they released this week.

That animal welfare law restricts the sale of products in California from animals raised using specific types of animal confinement systems, including from breeding pigs that do not have space to move around in their confinements.

Iowa pork producers have said they face investing millions of dollars to modify their operations if they want to sell bacon and other pork products in one of the nation’s largest consumer markets.

The Prop 12 ballot initiative went into effect earlier this year and comes at a time when hog farmers experienced large losses due to a combination of factors, including higher input costs, lower hog prices and oversupply.

Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow, chair of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, unveiled the committee’s draft of a new farm bill Monday, just weeks before Congress adjourns and a little more than a month before funding for many farm programs ceases after Dec. 31 without another extension or passage of a new bill.

The comprehensive package of legislation supports several key farm and safety net programs, like crop insurance, as well as agriculture research, rural development, conservation projects and food assistance for low-income families. It is supposed to be updated every five years, but partisan gridlock got in the way, forcing Congress to extend the 2018 bill another year. The extensions to the previous bill expired in September.

“Pork producers have continually spoken up about the negative impacts of this issue, and it is a shame these conversations were disregarded,” National Pork Producers Council President Lori Stevermer, a pork producer from Minnesota, said in a statement.

The council urged both chambers of Congress to swiftly consider and pass a farm bill this year that includes a fix to Proposition 12.

The House Agriculture Committee released its version of the farm bill in May, but it has yet to be brought for a vote by the full House. The House bill includes language similar to a bill introduced by Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson that ensures Iowa hog confinement operators can sell their pork nationwide.

The language prohibits state and local governments from imposing standards on the production of livestock over state lines to prevent barriers to interstate commerce. States and local governments still would be permitted to regulate production within their own borders.

Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee, cosponsored companion legislation in the Senate and worked to include it in the Senate GOP farm bill framework released in June.

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“I’ve been fighting to put more farm in the Farm Bill and calling on the Senate Majority to release text for the Farm Bill for well over a year now,” Ernst said in a statement. “We need to ensure the right bill gets over the finish line, and it’s not this last-minute, unserious, and partisan proposal that’s a slap in the face to our hardworking producers.”

Stabenow said Senate Democrats released a framework for a farm bill in the spring, hoping to “spark serious negotiations” to put forward a bipartisan bill that could pass both the House and the Senate.

“This is a robust bill that puts more farm in the Farm Bill for all of our commodities, but not at the expense of rural communities and American families that are critical to holding the Farm Bill coalition together,” she said during a floor speech Monday. “It provides farmers with the certainty of a five-year farm bill — so they can plan for the future — and the assistance they need to manage the urgent needs they have right now.”

Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, speaking to reporters Tuesday, called Senate Democrats’ timing on the release of their bill “disappointing and unrealistic.”

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Grassley said “it’s clear there is not enough time” to approve a new farm bill in the lame-duck Congress before the year ends. He said he expects Congress to pass a short-term extension into the New Year and work quickly to pass a new five-year farm bill in 2025 when Republicans control the House, Senate and White House.

“I’m determined to provide certainty for farmers and Iowans and throughout our great nation,” Grassley said.

The Iowa Farm Bureau on Monday highlighted the need to pass a new farm bill to avoid significant interruptions in many critical programs. A Farm Bureau analysis estimates a sharp downturn in the agricultural economy could lead up to more than 11,000 jobs losses in the state.

“This analysis underscores why a farm bill is so important. Farmers need assurances as they try to balance economic uncertainty,” Iowa Farm Bureau President Brent Johnson, a Calhoun County farmer, said in a statement.

Senate Democrats’ proposal includes $39 billion in new resources. That includes:

The bill also incorporates conservation program funding from the Inflation Reduction Act. The House bill also moves that act’s funding into the baseline funding of the farm bill, but removes guardrails around preserving conservation programs’ focus on farming practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The issue has been a point of contention between Democrats and Republicans on agriculture’s role in responding to climate change.

House and Senate versions also differ over the size of increases to the farm safety net and a tool for setting benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that provides benefits for low-income households to buy groceries.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Thrifty Food Plan estimates the cost of a healthy diet at the lowest price point and is used to determine SNAP benefit amounts. House Republican’s bill would keep the plan cost-neutral, which would prohibit benefits from increasing or decreasing except to reflect the cost of inflation.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that would reduce future outlays by $30 billion over the next decade. The House bill would use those funds to boost the farm safety net. Democrats have called it a cut and made clear they oppose any reductions in SNAP spending.

The Senate bill would increase reference prices by 5 percent for all covered commodities. The House bill would increase reference prices 10 to 20 percent.

Stabenow, during her floor speech, said “large increases in farm subsidies should not be paid for on the back of our families in need or the broader needs of our small towns and rural communities.”

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