MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — U.S. farmers hope aid to agriculture will be revived as Congress struggles to pass a short-term spending bill that would keep the federal government funded and avert a looming partial government shutdown that would begin after midnight Friday evening .
A one-year extension of federal farm programs, about $30 billion in economic aid and an agreement that would increase sales of a higher blend of ethanol called E15 were part of a bipartisan deal that collapsed Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump and his fellow allies denounced the overall package. But even as he rejected that deal, Trump signaled that he was at least aware of concerns in farmlands, which voted heavily for him in the election.
A new Republican version of the House announced Thursday kept the one-year extension of the Farm Bill and economic relief but cut the ethanol provision. It remained unclear whether it could clear both chambers, amid opposition from Democrats and some conservative Republicans, and get President Joe Biden’s signature in time to avoid a shutdown.
Both versions of the proposed “continuing resolution” would extend the Farm Bill programs for another year after lawmakers failed to agree on a new five-year package despite months of negotiations. They also include $10 billion to help farmers struggling with high interest rates, falling crop prices and rising production costs that exceed farm incomes. Producers would also get $20 billion of the $100 billion in disaster aid in the package.
“SUCCESS in Washington!” Trump posted a message on social media. “Speaker Mike Johnson and the House of Representatives have reached a very good deal for the American people. The newly negotiated American Relief Act of 2024 will keep the government open, fund our Great Farmers and others, and provide relief to those severely affected by the devastating hurricanes.”
Farm groups say the help they are seeking won’t make producers healthy, but it will give them much-needed stability as they apply for loans this winter to prepare for spring planting.
Net farm income is expected to fall 4.1% in 2024 after falling 19.4% in 2023 from record highs in 2022, according to new forecasts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture this month.
Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau, urged Congress in a letter Wednesday evening to preserve the agriculture provisions in a new agreement.
“Any alternative Continuing Resolution (CR) should include: an extension of the farm bill, aid to rebuild after natural disasters, economic assistance to bridge the gap until we can pass a new farm bill, and year-round sales of E -15s,” Duval said. wrote. “Weather-related natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 have paralyzed communities across the country. The weather may be over, but unthinkable wreckage remains. Entire communities need to be rebuilt.”
Carolyn Olson — who grows organic corn, soybeans and wheat near Cottonwood in southwestern Minnesota — said the relief would be helpful to farmers affected by natural disasters, whether that’s drought in the Midwest or hurricanes in the Southeast .
Olson, vice president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau, said November through February can be a critical time as that’s when farmers make their big decisions for the coming year.
“It’s really important that farmers have some security and that their leaders know it’s OK to lend to their farms,” she said. “That’s kind of the big unknown we’re dealing with. Some farmers are very concerned about what their loan officers are going to say.”
That goes for the Olsons too. Although their corn crop was good and they also make money by finishing about 14,000 conventional pigs per year, they lost their entire wheat crop in 2024 due to disease. So that has increased the stress they face, she said. And as organic farmers, they don’t have the costs of herbicides, but still face high costs for other expenses, such as fuel to heat their barns.
“We need Congress to vote yes on this,” Olson said.
Corn growers had pushed hard for a provision in the failed proposal that would allow permanent year-round sales of gasoline containing 15% ethanol produced from corn. Standard unleaded gas can contain up to 10% ethanol. But Republicans in the House of Representatives did not include it in their stripped-down proposal. Industry groups still hoped to restore it.
“Removing E15 from the bill makes absolutely no sense and is an insult to America’s farmers and renewable fuel producers,” Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper said in a statement. “It’s a shock to rural America, and we urge members to vote ‘no’ on any package that doesn’t include this simple E15 solution.”
While the first Trump administration supported year-round sales, opposition from the oil industry and concerns that the fuel could worsen smog in hot weather made summer E15 sales subject to annual waivers during the Biden administration . The Environmental Protection Agency in February approved E15 year-round, starting next year only for eight Midwestern states. That uncertainty has kept many gas stations from carrying the fuel. The industry hopes that year-round sales across the country will increase availability and support demand for corn.
Jim Kanten, who grows about 2,300 acres of corn and operates a custom fertilizer processing plant with his father and brother near Milan in western Minnesota and is president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, said it’s a critical issue is in farmland.
“It has been a long process,” says Kanten. “We have been working on this for more than ten years.”
And while producers need a temporary extension of the Farm Bill, Kanten said what they really need is the stability of a completely revamped five-year package.
But pork producers were not happy with the proposal that emerged Tuesday. They wanted Congress to block a California animal welfare law enacted last year that banned the production and sale of fresh pork in the state from pigs born to sows kept in strict confinement. Producers in other states must meet these standards if they want to sell pork in California. Farm groups say this will raise costs for producers across the country and raise prices for consumers across the country.
“After years of losing money and forcing family farms into bankruptcy, we needed the certainty to make decisions yesterday,” said Lori Stevermer, a pork producer from Easton in southern Minnesota who is president of the National Pork Producers Council. “Congress’s complete disregard and inability to provide sufficient certainty to producers will certainly make this a bleak holiday season for many farm families across the country.”
