Affecting every American, the Farm Bill is under fire

(IngredientNews.com) – Mary Kay Thatcher, Senior Director of Congressional Relations with the American Farm Bureau Federation, shared the latest Farm Bill updates in an exclusive recorded webinar discussion earlier this week with International Food Products’ Chief Economist, Stephen Nicholson. Lawmakers still have plenty to overcome in a short amount of time if they want to pass some version of the Farm Bill before the current version expires on Sept. 30. Thatcher and Nicholson talked about a few of the challenges this week. Listen here

Other highlights and why this week is important to the Farm Bill:

• Nutrition Program: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-VA, continues to look to cut big dollars from SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) – as much as $40 billion in cuts over the next 20 years. Farm Bill Conference committee will vote on whether to cut or not.
• Commodity Titles: These economic safety nets for farmers are set to expire Sept. 30, but will legislation be approved by then? If Congress fails to act, federal policy on food aid and farming will revert back to a 1940s-era law and commodity titles will have between $4 billion to $40 billion in cuts. Most affected will be dairy producers, due to the milk income loss contract checks.
• Sugar: No changes are expected, at least until Jan. 1.

To hear Thatcher and Nicholson’s complete discussion about the Farm Bill updates, please listen to the exclusive webinar here.