U.S. agriculture is still waiting for a new farm bill from a Congress that has a lot to accomplish in 2025. Cassandra Kuball, vice president of the Torrey Advisory Group, says it’s important to keep the pressure on legislators to get that work done.
“There is still hope. And we are witnessing, and we hear this from the leadership in Congress, that they still intend to bring it forward this year. They need to stay positive with that, and it’s a way to ensure that we’re still engaging on the Farm Bill. Nothing’s officially done and closed. So, this is a reminder to the ag community that you still need to get out there and talk about the importance of what matters to you with that farm bill, despite whether or not it’s taken up this year or gets kicked to next year.”
She says the biggest danger for farmers is to assume things won’t change, so they don’t advocate for a new farm bill.
“It is. If you’re not engaging, then it continues to go lower and lower on the pole of the things that matter for them to be focusing on, and their attention is going to be taken up a lot on funding the government this first quarter. We now have a tax package that’s been announced. It’s not been officially introduced; it’s just been shared in the greater sphere. It’s bipartisan, but there’s a lot to work on there. So, there are a lot of other pieces of legislation that are going to be taking up a lot of energy, so to make sure that the farm bill is so important, regardless if it’s going to be voted on this year or another year, it’s still important to get out there and continue to talk about what those priorities are for you and your farm.”
Immigration is one factor that could slow things down a bit.
I think immigration, it’s a real ebb and flow on that right now. We’re watching it from the sense of what’s taking place at the southern border, and before we can get to where we see any progress as it relates to the farm community. And so this is like by visas and the H-2A program, expanding that to include dairy or other sectors of agriculture to other visa programs across the agriculture value chain, we need to see real progress made on the sensitivities that exist at the southern border and what it means for different things like asylum restrictions there, and moving and processing folks, so that has to take place. So those conversations are hot right now.”