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Farm bill split ‘not a long-term solution’
Although the idea of splitting the farm bill into separate bills for farm and nutrition programs seems to be gaining support, it’s not a realistic long-term solution.
So says University of Nebraska Extension public policy specialist Brad Lubben.
“There’s a reason farm and food came together some 40 years ago,” Lubbens says, “because it got the coalition of support to consider farm legislation that already then was recognizing a diminishing presence.”
Lubben says, if anything, that agricultural presence has diminished even more in the House.
“You’ve got redistricting and gerrymandered districts that have become more politically polarized, such that you have fewer and fewer districts that really bridge the rural-urban divide,” he says. “So who are you going to find to push legislation in the House relative to farm and farm-related programs?”
And Lubben says a move to split the farm bill this year may foretell an even bigger challenge the next time around.
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