Ag Legislation Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. As the holidays approach and Congress works to wrap up certain priorities, many wonder what 2023 is going to look like for agriculture.
Syngenta Senior Manager of Federal Government & Industry Relations, Mary Kay Thatcher says the farm bill will be one of the year’s big ag items to deal with …
THATCHER … “The biggest issue in the farm bill, in my mind, is the budget. You know, if the $18-19-billion that we got, largely through the efforts of Senator Stabenow, Chairman of the Ag Committee in the Senate side, for conservation programs, for climate change, does that exist in the budget so that it’s in the baseline, the amount of money we have to spend in writing the next farm bill.”
And that, Thatcher says is key …
THATCHER … “If they don’t do that and we don’t somehow get more money from above to write a farm bill, you can’t have a whole lot of changes. Because, even if I just want to barely increase the PLC program or the ARP program price, I’ve got to take it from somewhere else, and that’s never an easy thing to do.”
As for the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, Thatcher’s optimism is waning …
THATCHER … “I know that there’s a lot of people out there working really diligently right now to change the ag immigration law and feeling like if the don’t get it done in the “lame duck,” it isn’t going to happen for two years and I suspect that’s exactly what happens.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on agriculture’s legislative agenda in the new year.
