There could be a push to pass a federal Farm Bill before President Joe Biden leaves office in January.
The presidential election will usher in a new administration and a Republican-controlled Senate, prompting congressional lawmakers focused on agriculture to pass a Farm Bill within the next couple of months.
“I think for the Republicans even — they're, yes, going to potentially control the Senate, they have the White House, and potentially the House as well next year — there's a lot of uncertainty in terms of the regulations, policies and funding levels the Trump administration will want to impose,” said Hawaiʻi U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, who sits on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, on Thursday during the first day of the Hawaiʻi Agriculture Conference in Honolulu.
Tokuda said even Republican lawmakers in agriculture are motivated to get a bill passed by January.
“There will be a whole ‘nother (Congressional Budget Office) score — the cost of this now $1.5 trillion Farm Bill, the largest we've ever seen in history. And so there is a concern that a conservative administration will want to cut,” she added.
Part of that uncertainty comes as it is unclear who will be leading the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Former independent presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. claimed President-elect Donald Trump would give him control of the USDA. Kennedy is a longtime environmental lawyer and activist who also became known for his anti-vaccine rhetoric and promotion of other conspiracy theories.
He has said that he wants to prioritize unprocessed foods and opposes the use of herbicides in farming.
The 2018 Farm Bill expired in September with no replacement, as federal lawmakers have spent over a year arguing over the details of the proposed $1.5 trillion legislation. Congress went on break in October, and following the election will return to Washington to continue working on the bill.
The Farm Bill supports a breadth of food-related efforts, although a large majority — around 75%, according to Tokuda — of it is food money, including funding for programs to feed low-income households, such as the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The bill also funds loans for farmers, crop insurance and conservation.
In Hawaiʻi, it supports efforts like growing specialty crops, the DA BUX program, and the state Department of Agriculture’s Micro-Grants For Food Security Program.
State DOA Chair Sharon Hurd said that Hawaiʻi grows some crops not found anywhere else, like kalo, meaning they get less attention on the federal level compared to widely produced crops like corn and wheat.
“We get very little attention unless we speak up. We need to use these programs to get a voice in the Farm Bill,” Hurd said.
