State agriculture officials announced priorities to direct their policy advocacy efforts toward the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill.
The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), during their 2022 NASDA Winter Policy Conference in February, identified 10 policy areas to discuss implementing in the next farm bill. They include:
• Significant funding should be provided for agriculture research, focusing on the safety and security of the food system, Extension programs and natural resources.
• Animal disease prevention and management should be addressed, including three critical components: early disease detection and surveillance, prevention and rapid response.
• Conservation and climate resiliency should be encouraged through increasing funding for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program and Environmental Quality Incentives Program. NASDA also recommends investments in incentive programs for voluntary practices and technical assistance to equip farmers and ranchers with additional tools that reduce greenhouse gases and sequester carbon.
• Cybersecurity is critical to the agriculture and agribusiness sectors, and the farm bill should continue funding to stop cyberattacks.
• Food safety should be addressed in the next farm bill with resources to assist producers in complying with the Food Safety Modernization Act.
• Hemp should be redefined to increase the total THC concentration to 1 percent or less.
• Invasive species threaten farmers and ranchers, and NASDA endorses an increase in funding for the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention program and the National Clean Plant Network.
• Local food systems should promote equity for socially disadvantaged, Black and Indigenous people and people of color. Funding should be increased for farmers’ markets and purchases of local foods in the Farm to School grant program.
• Specialty crop block grants should receive an increase in funding for hemp crops with horticultural uses.
• Trade promotion through the Market Access Program promotes American grown and produced food and ag products, and NASDA supports increasing funding to compete against foreign, heavily subsidized products.
NASDA CEO Ted McKinney said in a statement, “The next farm bill must remain unified, securing a commitment to American agriculture and the critical food and nutritional assistance programs for those who need it most.”
McKinney stated NASDA members are often the officials closest to farmers themselves. As co-regulators with the federal government, they are uniquely positioned to lead, impact and direct policymaking solutions for the 2023 Farm Bill.
The House Agriculture Committee has begun farm bill hearings with commodity groups on Title I programs, including Price Loss Coverage and Agriculture Risk Coverage. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
