What the federal Farm Bill has to do with our dinner

What was affordable at the grocery store this week? Was there a farmers market nearby? If so, what mix of the market’s vendors were able to keep their businesses afloat this year? And could you afford to buy what they were selling? 

What ends up on our plates has a lot to do with a big piece of federal legislation called the Farm Bill. 

Those who don’t farm for a living, which, according to the newly released agricultural census includes 99% of Americans, don’t always realize what a big impact the bill has on their bodies and menus. Renewed about every five years, the 2018 bill became law this past December.

Funds for small farmers

A good deal of resources allocated in the Farm Bill subsidize and insure large farms that grow commodities like corn and soy. While huge monocrop farms are atypical in our region, the funding that supports them does impact our area in that their crops line local grocery store shelves.

The types of small- and mid-sized farm operations more common to the Northeast also have support in the bill. The Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) increases farmers’ capacity to sell directly to customers, to upgrade their food safety compliance, and to work with lenders. 

The Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach Program (FOTO) helps beginning farmers start successful businesses, responding to census data that reports the average age of farmers has increased from 58.3 in 2012 to 59.4 in 2017. 

The Conservation Stewardship Program offers farmers incentives to manage for long-term soil health and ecosystem services such as pollination and flood control. 

The Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program funds agricultural research projects in the region like those that help farmers mitigate and adapt to the changing conditions caused by climate change. 

Many farmers in the Northeast take advantage of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) for farm improvements, including direct funding to farmers for everything from high tunnels on vegetable farms to solar-powered fencing for rotational grazing on dairies. Kent organic vegetable grower Megan Haney says that EQIP funding she received for a deer fence saved her business. “Deer had been eating me out of house and home.” 

Putting food on tables

At a time when many in and out of the farm economy are struggling, the Farm Bill has some programs that specifically seek to matchmake between local growers and food insecure individuals. 

According to a December 2018 report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 12% of Connecticut children live below the poverty line and one in nine Connecticut residents use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is authorized through the Farm Bill. 

The GusNIP program (Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program) offers “prescriptions” to help SNAP recipients purchase fresh food and competitive grants for projects that use fruit and vegetable incentives. 

NW Corner dairy farm aid

Speaking of risk management and prices in dairy, East Canaan dairy farmer Ben Freund said, “There were some improvements adopted in the last year of the last Farm Bill and those enhancements were improved further in the current Farm Bill. We can now purchase fair dairy risk tools that are properly designed. Entering the fifth year of a long down cycle in dairy, we welcome the changes.”

Close to a monopoly

The total number of U.S. farms has been trending downward nationwide for years and, according to the National Farmers Union, a handful of companies control every stage of the food chain, from inputs to production to processing to packaging to distribution. 

Individuals and organizations concerned about this trajectory are paying close attention to the current budget deal negotiations and Farm Bill appropriations process in hopes that programs aimed at supporting growers are funded. 

Of course, there are other government actions, and inactions, that affect Northeast farmers, and subsequently eaters, in addition to the Farm Bill. 

“Trade is the most important factor affecting our price,” Freund said. “The extended trade wars have hurt us dramatically. The Farm Bill cannot backfill the lost markets, especially as importing countries develop the infrastructure to replace our products long term. 

“Dairy needs Free Trade and an immigration policy that works.”

 Whether you ate packaged cornflakes for breakfast or had pasture-raised pork sausages with fresh greens and field-grown strawberries in local cream may have had a lot to do with the fine print in the bill. Well, the fine print and how much time you had before leaving the house for work.