Farm Director KC Sheperd had the chance to catch up with American Farmers and Ranchers President Scott Blubaugh about the recent Farmers Union Legislative Fly-In and AFR priorities in the 2023 Farm Bill.
This week, 300 Farmers Union members from across the country joined together in Washington, DC, to advocate for family farmers and Farmers Union farm bill priorities.
“We took 13 farmers and ranchers from Oklahoma up there, and we had some great visits, met with all of the Oklahoma delegations, and we met with some of the other delegations in the Southern part of the United States,” Blubaugh said. “We had a meeting at the White House, we had a meeting at the Justice Department, we had a meeting at EPA and the Federal Trade Commission, and of course, our big meeting there with USDA and Secretary Vilsack.”
There was plenty of discussion on the 2023 Farm Bill, which Blubaugh said he does not believe will be produced on time.
“The thought is that we are very unlikely to get a Farm Bill anytime soon,” Blubaugh said. “Washington, D.C. is so divided right now along partisan lines.”
Blubaugh said he fears a government shutdown coming in the near future.
“Many of the members of Congress indicated they thought that was probably what was going to happen,” Blubaugh said. “There is always hope in trying to predict what they do in Washington, D.C., but it is never a very good idea to do.”
Top priorities for AFR in the Farm Bill, Blubaugh said, begin with dual enrollment in the ARC program and the PLC program.
“Right now, a farmer has to go in there to the Farm Service Agency about 18 months beforehand and sign up for one of those two programs,” Blubaugh said. “One is weather related, and one is price related. It is really impossible for a farmer to know which one he should be signing up in.”
The entire idea behind the safety net, Blubaugh said, is to make sure family farmers and ranchers can stay in business in bad times, whether that means from prices or weather.
The Fairness for Farmers Campaign was also a topic of discussion, Blubaugh said, as the campaign entails market access and transparency in the marketplace.
“The contract library, we pushed again,” Blubaugh said. “There is a pilot project out there now for the contract library in the cattle industry. We would like to see that permanent. We would like to have that part of the Farm Bill.”
Blubaugh said AFR would like to see truth in labeling when it comes to agricultural products in the grocery store.
“We think it is very important that the consumers know what they are buying, and we aware of it,” Blubaugh said. “There have been some practices legally under USDA rules where we can import foreign beef into the United States, repackage it, and market it as a product of the USA.”
