Food Stamps

A Kansas farm group is now expressing its support for the federal legislation that will retain food stamps as part of the permanent farm bill. The Kansas National Farmers Organization expressed concern that removing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from the currently stalled farm bill in Congress would cause problems. According to NFO grain marketing specialist Pete Lorenz, the group believes that it “may open the door to possible cuts in risk management and crop insurance market-based programs that have worked well.” Lorenz went on to explain some of the reasoning behind the support of the farm bill. “Farmers are a minority in numbers, so partnering on urban programs to keep food stamps in the farm bill still makes common sense like it did when Sen. Bob Dole created it.”

Ideally, more farm groups will be following in the example set by the Kansas farm group by showing their support for the food stamp inclusion into the farm bill. The goal is to show solidarity and support for the inclusion of food stamps in the bill so that the government recognizes that the food stamp program is equally significant to the farmers that are represented and covered by the bill, which may help to prevent the removal of food stamps from the bill or higher cuts than what are necessary. More farm groups may begin to release statements regarding their support of the farm bill in the upcoming weeks.

During July, the House of Representatives rejected the farm bill that included the SNAP program and agricultural subsidies initially. That version of the legislation would have cut around $20.5 billion from the SNAP program. Some of the House conservatives voted against the bill because they believed that the cuts weren’t substantial enough. Democrats argued that the cuts were too deep and that they would have too much of a negative impact on food stamp program recipients. The House then managed to pass a farm bill that would remove the SNAP program completely, but that bill appears to be working its way closer to failure within a Senate that is focused on keeping food stamps in the farm bill itself.

President of Kansas NFO, Ray Kohman, recently acknowledged that the group’s political statement was outside of their normal pursuits since they generally work on group marketing and the negotiation of various commodities for farmers. He reasoned with the actions, acknowledging the difference. “However, there are some current rural policy issues of importance that need to be addressed,” Kohman noted. The farm group also asked the USDA to withhold publication of the crop reports until the accuracy of the reports can be validated. According to Lorenz, “USDA reports have, at times, been publicized despite USDA’s own reservation regarding the accuracy of the reports. It is not fair, nor good policy, to publish statistically inaccurate reports that can significantly impact market prices and lead to losses for American farmers.”