News

Farmers Union leader hopes for farm bill progress

National Farmers Union leaders hope Congress does not delay work on the new farm bill.

Government Relations Director Mike Stranz says that’s, “because the calendar gets pretty tight as you get into the summer of 2024 and the election coming up.”

Stranz tells Brownfield if a farm bill is going to get done in a timely fashion, lawmakers will need to show progress by late January or early February. “Just to see some draft text, which hasn’t been released yet, and then some action by the House and Senate agriculture committees, hopefully by the springtime, and maybe there could be summertime consideration of the full farm bill on the floor of the House or Senate, but any later than that and it’s going to have to be after the election.”

And Stranz says he’s optimistic some of National Farmers Union’s legislative priorities like Fairness for Farmers and increased competition might move forward in the new farm bill. “Whether it’s on cattle price discovery and transparency, whether it’s on adding more investigators to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act, right to repair issues, there’s talk that some of these issues may be baked into some of the opening drafts of the farm bill.”

Stranz says the food supply chain breakdown seen during the pandemic has brought additional support for fixing competition problems in the market.

Stranz spoke to Brownfield during the Wisconsin Farmers Union convention last weekend.