MITCHELL, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) The Farm Bill, or more accurately the lack of a Farm Bill, was the topic of a forum at Dakotafest on Wednesday August 21, 2024. The House of Representatives passed a Farm Bill out of Committe but has yet to take up the bill on the floor of the House. Congressman Dusty Johnson was one of the principal authors of the House Farm Bill.
The Farm Bill is made up of twelve titles but 80% of the expenditure is in just one title – nutrition programs like Medicaid food programs and the school lunch program. An audience member asked Senator Thune why the Farm Bill isn’t broken out into two separate measures, one for the nutritional programs and the other for the commodity side, crop insurance and the like.
Senator Thune responded that linking the two programs is crucial to getting coastal support (East and West) and urban lawmakers backing for farm programs. Senator Rounds added that there are nine states that have more cows than people but that doesn’t add up to many Senators and Representatives so the linkage of the two – nutritional and farm programs – is a crucial strategy to pass a farm bill.
The current Farm Bill is set to expire on September 30, 2024. The South Dakota Congressional Delegation indicated that not much would be done before the November election and that a one-year extension of the current bill, while not ideal, was the most likely short term, stop gap solution.