It’s time to rethink the farm safety net. That’s the conclusion of Mike Stranz, vice president of advocacy for the National Farmers Union.
“In the last few weeks, we’ve seen the end of the federal government shutdown, and now we’re turning towards what happens next, because we know that the farm economy is in crisis right now, with high input costs, low commodity prices in many cases, and just so many pressures on family farmers and ranchers. So, we need to see some action soon from the administration on trade assistance to make up for some of the losses that farmers are feeling because of tariffs, and to make sure that those are structured in a way that they don’t undercut the safety and security of the farm economy in the months and years to come.”
He offered some insight on the farm bill.
“So, the Farm Bill remains in limbo right now. Back in the summer, we saw the reconciliation bill, or the big, beautiful bill, make some changes to the farm safety net and improve the reference prices, make changes to crop insurance, and added some more acres to the program. Those were some good things. But on the other hand, it also cut almost $200 billion from SNAP, and that causes, in addition to the nutrition and health issues that come with that, it also politically makes it really difficult to pass a farm bill. So, while some changes were made in the summer, it’s going to be hard to bring everybody back to the table in early 2026 to do the rest of the Farm Bill, but we hope we can get there.”
Stranz talked about why SNAP and the farm bill are both important to farmers…tape
“Well, it’s absolutely critical to millions of American families, and we saw how important and critical that is during the federal government shutdown. Even though the shutdown has been resolved, those cuts to SNAP remain, and states are scrambling to figure out how to pick up the shortfall, let alone the families that are dependent upon this to help feed their families. So, this is critically important there. It’s also important to farmers, because 15 cents of every dollar spent on food at the grocery store goes to the farmer. So, it only stands to reason that there are some critical connections there too.”