Congressman Brad Finstead says 2023 Farm Bill Should be By Farmers for Farmers

Listen to the full conversation with Brad Finstead.

While in Washington, D.C., for Washington Watch, the National Association of Farm Broadcasters group had the chance to visit with Congressman Brad Finstad. Farm Director KC Sheperd is featuring comments from the Minnesota Republican talking about his priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill, as a farmer himself.

“One of the things that I just keep pounding the drum on is that we have to make sure that we don’t screw this up in D.C.,” Finstead said. “This farm bill needs to be by the farmer and for the farmer. It needs to be by rural America and for rural America.”

There is a strong importance to protect and enhance crop insurance, Finstead said, as risk management is critical for all farmers, especially younger generations.

“I hear it all the time that farmers are solidifying their relationship on the front end with their banks because of the crop insurance,” Finstead said. “They are using it as marketing decisions on the back end, and it is a really sustainable way to manage their farm.”

As for the enhancement of crop insurance, Finstead said that could mean expanding to different commodities and looking into how livestock plays a role.

“I am also hearing that, as we approach the conversation on the conservation title, to make sure that those programs remain voluntary, and they are not directly tied to different practices and mandated practices,” Finstead said.

Another overarching piece that goes beyond the farm bill, Finstead said, involves high input prices.

“We in farm country have not been immune to the high gas prices, the high input prices,” Finstead said. “I had a farmer tell me that he instantly saw the inputs increase when Russia invaded Ukraine. We felt that right there in little old southern Minnesota. I know we felt that all over rural America.”

There is no doubt that those in the ag industry are in a marketing battle, Finstead said, as it can be difficult to make connections with consumers.

“So many of my friends were connected to the farm via grandma and grandpa,” Finstead said. “Grandma and grandpa have passed, and we have lost that generational connection to the farm, and now it is just this thought or this memory or this dream. When we lose that connection, we lose that opportunity to really get dirt under their fingernails and have people understand it.”

Making the connection from the farm to the plate, Finstead said, is critical.

“Food security is national security, and we have to just keep talking about that,” Finstead said. “Moreover, to the input side, we also have to really be strong about that we need an ‘America first’ input type input conversation in this country. I think what we have realized is we have become very vulnerable, and we have outsourced the very critical things we need, whether it is fertilizer, or whether it is computer chips.”

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