Farm Bill Talks Continue: Farm Safety Net & Nutrition

In the last two farm bills, the Senate has rejected House cuts to the Nutrition Title. Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member John Boozman isn’t sure what to expect when it comes to nutrition in the new farm bill, especially given the increase in food prices.

“I have no idea what that's going to look like. Again, I'm a co-chair of the hunger caucus. I'm very involved in the nutrition programs in the school they've got, especially now, with inflation rising. The other problem they've got is because of the so strict nutrition standards, nobody makes the food that they have to serve. So, we're dealing with a lot of issues like that. Again, we just need to use some common sense and try and work it out.”

Boozman says including the farm safety net is a must because of high fertilizer prices and inflation.

“Well, I think the world looks very different now than it did when we wrote the last title, so I'm not sure exactly how we're going to get it worked out. But right now, I think it's fair to say that the safety nets are not adequate for the situation that we're in today. Now, who knows what it’ll look like a year from now, as we are finalizing things. I think it's difficult to tell because none of us predicted being in the situation that we're in now. Certainly, I think everybody's going to be working good site to make sure that the safety nets are in place. If not, then farmers are going to have a very tough time getting loans. And we're so blessed that we've got the cheapest, safest food supply, you all know this better than anybody, and we need to protect that.”