Vilsack shares his thoughts and concerns on farm bill

BY ARIANA SCHUMACHER Agweek

BOONE, Iowa — During the Farm Progress Show, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack shared his hope on getting the farm bill completed.

“I know that Chairman (Glenn "GT") Thompson has exercised his enthusiasm and optimism for getting a bill done, and I share that hope,” Vilsack said, regarding the chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture.

The 2018 Farm Bill expired on Sept. 30, 2023, but Congress extended the bill's authority through Sept. 30. 2024.

He said that there are different levels of optimism on getting a new bill done.

“I would say the chairman probably has the highest level,” Vilsack said. “Here’s what I am optimistic about: I am optimistic about the people who are involved in this process, understanding the importance of it, getting it done certainly before the end of the year.”

Vilsack explained the urgency about getting the bill completed by the end of the year.

“If it doesn’t get done before the end of the year, or there’s not an extension before the end of the year, then there’s some ramifications that are pretty dire,” he said. “I know that folks in both the House and Senate are fully aware of that, and I know that they are committed, each and every one of them, to American farmers, ranchers and rural America. So based on this understanding, I’m convinced that eventually they are going to get this done.”

But Vilsack has his hesitations on the bill.

Ariana Schumacher / Agweek

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack addresses the media at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, on August 28, 2024.

“But I think, frankly, we are going to have to get practical about this,” he said. “We are going to have to make sure that we know exactly how much resource is available for new programs and expansion programs, and we are going to want to make sure that the programs and the resources are fair.”

Looking at the resources that are available for new programs or expansion of existing programs is key.

“And try to fit whatever you’re proposing within the real cost, not a cost that’s made up or not a cost that you use the budget gimmicks to try to overshadow,” Vilsack said. “I think that is what has to happen.

When that does happen, then I think it’ll be relatively simple and quick for folks to ultimately get to yes."

He shared his concerns about the reference price proposal.

“I think the challenge with the reference price discussion is that there are obviously geographic differences between the level of support that a rice farmer would get under the reference price proposal, nearly $300,000, and what a soybean producer here in Iowa would get, about $5,400,” Vilsack said.

While there are still areas of differences when coming to the farm bill, Vilsack thinks they are not impossible to come to a conclusion on.

“The areas of difference are just a handful, they’re big, they’re significant, but they’re not impossible to bridge,” he said.

But once they start to approach the bill with a practical mindset, Vilsack thinks it will be easy to complete.

“Once we get practical, I think it’ll be easy for people to get in a room and hammer out the details and hopefully provide the security and stability and predictability that farmers need in order to be able to make plans now into the future,” he stated.