During Heartland Ag Complex Tour, Rep. Eric Sorensen Talks Farm Bill and Foreign Aid

Apr 05, 2024

By Lyndsay Jones

U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen said he will not support a version of the farm bill that does not include funding for a federal nutrition program.

The Moline Democrat representing the 17th Congressional District told reporters during a tour of Heartland Community College's agricultural complex Wednesday that plans to eliminate funding for the USDA's Thrifty Food Plan in the farm bill are a "non-starter" for him.

The Thrifty Food Plan is one of four nutrition programs the federal agency is charged with developing. It has a direct tie to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, the largest source of federal food aid for low-income Americans.

Nutrition assistance comprises a significant portion of the once-every-five-years legislative effort known as the farm bill, which is overdue for passage. The current farm bill expired in September 2023, and while Congress gave itself an additional year to pass a new version, progress has stalled due to political gridlock.

"The constituents that I serve in this district — many of them are having trouble making ends meet," Sorensen said. "The cost of groceries is going up (and) I'm working on what I can do to bring that cost down, but we can't take away funding for a single mom who's working two jobs and say, 'Your SNAP benefits are going from $126 to $62 — just make do.'"

Sorensen, who sits on the House Committee on Agriculture, also indicated he supports strengthening crop insurance provisions within the bill to make sure it is as "robust as possible."

"A lot of our producers don't want disaster assistance at the end, or after a disaster happens," he said. "Why don't we just make sure that the crop assistance and insurance is taken care of so that it meets the farmers and producers as they go? There needs to be that stability and crop insurance and we have to invest in that."

Ukraine and Speaker Johnson

Finalizing a new farm bill isn't the only matter pending long-awaited congressional action: House Speaker Mike Johnson has pledged to take a vote on a package that includes funding to Ukraine. The Senate already passed a $95 billion aid package in February that included funds for Taiwan, Israel, humanitarian relief for Palestinians, as well as Ukraine.

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Video: 2025 USDA December Crop Report a “Dud” + Trump $12 Billion U.S. Farm Aid

The USDA December crop report was friendly corn, neutral soybeans and bearish wheat. The USDA did surprise and increase the 25/26 U.S. corn export forecast to a new record high at 3.2 billion bushels now up 12% vs. last year vs. prior at +9% vs. the export pace to date up 30% the best in 10 years even higher than 20/21! The USDA left the 25/26 U.S. soybean export pace unchanged at 1.635 billion bushels. Higher global wheat supplies will remain a weight and headwind for wheat into year end and start of 2026.
Mexico is now the #1 buyer of U.S. corn, soybeans (usually China), wheat and pork!
USDA also released its long-term early projections but expect more changes by February of 2026.
Trump announces a $12 billion U.S. farmer aid package to be paid out by February 28, 2026. This helps no one but the ag banks, farm equipment companies, seed and fertilizer companies. It does prevent more farmer bushels from being sold near-term but is not bullish grain prices long-term. The Trump administration should focus on increasing U.S. domestic demand and propping up grain futures so farmers can cover their higher costs, up since COVID of 2020.
The China U.S. soybean purchase tracker now stands at 4.521 mmt or 38% of the 12 mmt promised by China at year end or is it end of February or the growing season? Why the discrepancy vs. the fact sheet. The optics are poor for the Trump administration.
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Silver traded to new record highs as the debasement and de dollarization trade continued but technicals remain overbought near-term.
Soybean futures remained in correction mode after the funds went record long futures on Nov. 19 +233,000 contracts but the $10.80 support should hold into year end when the fund profit taking/liquidation comes to an end from the year end, end of month and end of quarter selling.
The U.S. Fed cut interest rates for the 3rd time by 25 basis points to a range of 3.50 – 3.75% and they will only cut one more time in 2026 and once in 20267/ but when Powell is gone next April the replacement is willing to cut more aggressively and we could see U.S. interest rates fall to 2.0% very bullish for ag and stocks as it could reignite inflation into 2027.
After 2 months of being drier than normal in Brazil the rains have finally arrived for the 1st half of December, and a record crop is still in the cards but if this pattern continues and verifies it could start to delay the harvest. Argentina after being too wet has turned dry but they are too small, compared top Brazil in the grand picture.
The Canadian dollar surged to $0.73 after better-than-expected employment data with 180,000 new jobs in the past 3-months and 3rd quarter GDP at +2.6% but this could be short-lived.
The latest CFTC report as of 11-19-2025 reported a record long fund position in soybeans at +233,000 contracts when 2026 March soybean futures peaked on 11-19-25 at $11.724/bu.