Texas farmers’ frustrated with negotiations over $1 trillion farm bill

HOUSTON – Negotiations around a new farm bill that would increase government support for Texas farmers and ranchers are at a standstill, threatening to push back what could be a $1 trillion piece of legislation until next year, according to the Houston Chronicle. Amid a spike in the cost of agricultural supplies and equipment, farmers say they are struggling to hold on and without an immediate increase in crop support programs they will be unable to secure the loans and other financing they need to plant their crops. But Republicans and Democrats are deadlocked over spending on food stamps and other nutrition programs for low-income families, which make up the bulk of the farm bill’s cost, along with almost $20 billion in funding for climate-related conservation programs under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. With Congress in recess and November’s election less than three months away, farming lobbyists are urging members to work out a deal before year’s end.

Agriculture contributes close to $30 billion a year to the Texas economy, spanning the rice fields between Houston and San Antonio, cotton fields in the Panhandle and West Texas ranches, employing 1 in 7 Texas workers. “Congress needs to wake up and get something done,” said Laramie Adams, associate director of government affairs at the Texas Farm Bureau. “We’re expressing to everyone there’s problems in farm country right now. Input prices are extremely high, so are gasoline prices, and you have equipment that runs a million dollar plus and something breaks the parts are very expensive. But (crop) prices are way down.” Crop prices soared during the pandemic but have since dropped sharply — even as grocery prices remain high. Cotton, for instance, soared to $1.83 a pound in 2022 but now sells for less than 84 cents per pound. Likewise, corn rose to almost $350 per metric ton in 2022 before falling to close to $190 a metric ton in June. Leadership from both parties have expressed support for increasing funding to agricultural programs such as federal crop insurance, but the two sides have made little progress since House Republicans introduced their version of a farm bill in May.