Today’s Harvest Blog

The Farm Bill has been bogged down since the Fall while Congress has battled over funding the government. Given it’s an election year, Congressional leaders have acknowledged if the Farm Bill isn’t passed by mid-year, it will likely be extended for another year leaving it for the next Congress to complete. Several Farm Credit backed proposals have been introduced this Congress that would allow Farm Credit to lean into meeting the capital needs of rural America. The intent is for these “marker bills” to be included in the Farm Bill. Here is a summary of four of them.

The USDA and its partner vendors have announced the opening of the application period for Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which directs USDA to provide financial assistance to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs prior to January 2021. 

The House Ways and Means Committee recently announced The American Families and Jobs Act, which includes three bills (H.R. 3936, H.R. 3937, and H.R. 3938) that could impact farmers.

It’s that time of the year when state governments across the Northeast are crafting up budgets for their respective states. As always, we keep an eye out for important items that may positively impact farmers. Two recent highlights are from New York and Massachusetts.