By Mary Fund

The long awaited 2018 Farm Bill was finally passed in the very last possible days before the holidays, and signed by the President on December 20. This followed two years of intense debate and several weeks of limbo as final negotiations took place largely behind closed doors. The bill included both victories and disappointments for the sustainable agriculture community, and there is plenty to work on as implementation, rulemaking, administrative reform are all just as important now that the legislation has been completed.

The major next step is passing agricultural appropriations bills. Just hours after the 116th Congress was sworn into office in early January, the U.S. House voted and passed two bills to end the government partial shutdown that went into effect in late December. One bill included six of the seven remaining appropriations bills and included the Agricultural Appropriations package. Failing any Senate attention, the House then passed a stand-alone FY 2019 Agriculture Appropriations bill. This was the same bill offered earlier as part of the package of six bills passed by the house. Both versions of the FY 2019 Agriculture Appropriations were nearly identical to the version the Senate passed at the end of 2018, which included several important funding increases for sustainable agriculture. However, Senate leadership at this point has held firm to not take up any spending bills without funding for the Trump border wall. At this writing, there has been no progress on negotiations to end the shutdown and reopen the government, and pass appropriations bills.

So, appropriations for the farm bill programs were held hostage to the government shut down that ended late January, due to the impasse over a border wall – and thousands of government workers went without pay, and services were curtailed across the country.

Some USDA offices opened up during the shutdown to handle loans and tax issues, but the shutdown had far-reaching impacts on market information, loans, and trade, etc. SNAP, the federal nutrition program, had funds to operate until the end of February, but would have left many women and children hungry if the shutdown went on indefinitely. (As this goes to press, another potential shutdown looms.)

Farm Bill Summary:

Here is a short summary of major wins and losses in the Farm Bill passed and signed in December:

Local/ Regional Food Programs:

• Creates the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) and provide $50 million/year in mandatory permanent funds. LAMP combines the old Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program and Value-Added Producer grant programs.
• Instructs USDA to allow farmers’ markets to operate individual Electronic benefits transfer device for accepting SNAP benefits at more than one location.

• Creates a new “Urban, Indoor and Other Emerging Agricultural Production, Research and Education Extension Initiative” and creates a new Urban Agriculture research, education and extension initiative competitive grants program. It also instructs USDA to create a new “Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Forms of Production” office.
• Reauthorizes the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service/Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural America (ATTRA).

Conservation:

• Protects funding levels for the Conservation Title as a whole, but long-term funding for working lands programs will see significant cuts in later years of the bill. While the bill retains a relatively equal balance between EQIP and CSP funding from 2019-2013, the bill significantly redistributes funding from CSP to EQIP in the following 5 years of the bill, thus reducing overall working lands conservation funding in the future.
• Decreases the livestock set-aside with in EQIP from 60 to 50 percent but does not include any reforms to limit funding to new and expanding concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO’s).

Organic Agriculture:
• Establishes permanent mandatory funding for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative 9OREI), ramping up funding to $50 million/year by 2023. (For 2019 and 2020 levels will remain at current $20 million.)
• Reauthorizes and continues mandatory funding for the National Organic Certification cost-share program, which supports transition to and growth of organic production, but also cuts the amount of annual funding.

Beginning Farmers:
• Provides mandatory, permanent funding for the Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach Program. (FOTO). This program combines two training and assistance programs- Beginning Farmer Rancher Development Program and the Outreach and Assistance to Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program.

Commodity Crop and Crop Insurance:
• Improves whole farm revenue protection insurance, a risk management insurance for diversified farms who have been struggling with coverage issues.
• Adds a Local Food Policy to the list of new policies the Risk Management Agency should develop, for smaller specialty crop producers.
• Includes a strong step forward toward ending discrimination against farmers who adopt cover cropping. Not quite enough, but it does make progress toward convincing RMA to include all conservation practices as good farming practices for crop insurance purposes.
• And unfortunately includes a major new payment limit loophole to provide the largest commodity farms in the country with a way to avoid the statutory limit of $250,000 a year on commodity subsidies. New law allows extended family members are now eligible for payments.

For all the details and links to further explanations, please go to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition blog posts at: http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/.

funding for working lands programs will see significant cuts in later years of the bill. While the bill retains a relatively equal balance between EQIP and CSP funding from 2019-2013, the bill significantly redistributes funding from CSP to EQIP in the following 5 years of the bill, thus reducing overall working lands conservation funding in the future.
• Decreases the livestock set-aside with in EQIP from 60 to 50 percent but does not include any reforms to limit funding to new and expanding concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO’s).

Organic Agriculture:
• Establishes permanent mandatory funding for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative 9OREI), ramping up funding to $50 million/year by 2023. (For 2019 and 2020 levels will remain at current $20 million.)
• Reauthorizes and continues mandatory funding for the National Organic Certification cost-share program, which supports transition to and growth of organic production, but also cuts the amount of annual funding.

Beginning Farmers:
• Provides mandatory, permanent funding for the Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach Program. (FOTO). This program combines two training and assistance programs- Beginning Farmer Rancher Development Program and the Outreach and Assistance to Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program.

Commodity Crop and Crop Insurance:
• Improves whole farm revenue protection insurance, a risk management insurance for diversified farms who have been struggling with coverage issues.
• Adds a Local Food Policy to the list of new policies the Risk Management Agency should develop, for smaller specialty crop producers.
• Includes a strong step forward toward ending discrimination against farmers who adopt cover cropping. Not quite enough, but it does make progress toward convincing RMA to include all conservation practices as good farming practices for crop insurance purposes.
• And unfortunately includes a major new payment limit loophole to provide the largest commodity farms in the country with a way to avoid the statutory limit of $250,000 a year on commodity subsidies. New law allows extended family members are now eligible for payments.

For all the details and links to further explanations, please go to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition blog posts at: http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/.