TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas put 5,600 miles on his truck visiting constituents during the August congressional break, and the Republican carried a message of despair about the agriculture economy back to Washington.
Moran recently took to the floor of the U.S. Senate to plead with colleagues to finish by the end of 2024, at minimum, extension of the 2018 Farm Bill for a second year and adoption of an emergency funding package to address the drought, rising agriculture production costs as well as insufficient crop prices and falling farm income.
One year ago, gridlock in Congress prompted a 12-month extension of the Farm Bill that expires Sept. 30. It would be insufficient to simply repeat that one-year extension, Moran said.
“The current Farm Bill is not adequate to provide the relief or safety net of our nation’s farmers. Nor, is it reflective of the current state of the farm economy,” he said. “I offer myself to work with Republicans and Democrats, rural and urban to see that we get those goals accomplished.”
So far, bitter differences on food and agricultuare spending blocked progress. Proposals surfaced to cut tens of millions of Americans from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamp program. Disagreements remain about trigger mechanisms for increases in crop subsidy payments.
Moran said decisions not to get a new Farm Bill wrapped up during the past year had come home to roost. Net farm income was expected to be 27% lower this year than it was in 2022, he said. The U.S. agricultural trade deficit has ballooned to $42.5 billion. Farm income declined 43% in the past five years, he said.
“The overall financial situation of the farm economy is bleak,” Moran said. “The status quo is unacceptable. Our farmers deserve and need better. In the absence of successful farmers, in the places that many of us call home, the future is bleak.”
The Farm Bill supports American ranchers and farmers, but U.S. Department of Agriculture programs influence the status of banking, equipment manufacturing, conservation, food security and the energy sector.
