Citing worsening economic conditions impacting the nation’s farmers, the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association (MSGA) joined more than 300 national and state groups in sending a letter to congressional leaders on Sept. 9 calling on them to pass the Farm Bill before year’s end.
Signatories included groups representing farmers, livestock and specialty crop producers, lenders and other essential stakeholders in agricultural communities across the U.S. Commodity and lending groups will head to the Capitol en masse this week to advocate for passage of the legislation with a stronger agricultural safety net. Minnesota farmer Jamie Beyer, a director with both MSGA and the American Soybean Association (ASA), will join four other ASA directors in meeting with D.C. lawmakers Sept 10-11 to push for passing the legislation.
“It is critical that Congress pass a new farm bill that strengthens the safety net as many producers are facing multiple years of not being profitable, and this is causing their overall financial situation to deteriorate,” the letter said. “Some will have challenges as they seek operating credit for the 2025 crop year.”
The farm bill is typically passed every five years and supports the nation’s farmers, ranchers and forest stewards through a variety of safety net, credit, conservation and other critical programs. The law was originally scheduled for reauthorization in 2023. Last November, Congress voted to extend the existing legislation to September 30, 2024. Since that point, the leadership from both parties on the Senate and House Agriculture Committees have worked to push the legislation forward.
As the farm bill has faced delays, producers across the country have experienced headwinds, ranging from extreme weather to high input costs to uncertain global demand to supply chain disruptions.
Since the beginning of the year, the harvest price of major crops traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Intercontinental Exchange have fallen by an average of 21% while total production costs remain near record levels.
Farmers and their allies say these challenges have exposed areas of the farm bill that need to be strengthened.
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