By: Garrett Downs and Meredith Lee Hill

G.T. TAKES THE KEYS: Thompson declared it “crunch time” for the farm bill, which he told reporters he hopes will be a bipartisan package.

Farm bills are typically bipartisan, but the political reality for the new Republican House majority in this Congress will make it a necessity. Democrats control the Senate and the GOP majority in the House is razor thin. That’s already been illustrated by the speaker race, where about 20 members of the GOP forced a five-day, 15 ballot election and scored massive concessions.

“My goal is to keep it that way from the very beginning,” Thompson said, effectively ruling out a partisan first pass on the farm bill that would have to be reworked.

Some key takeaways from the listening session:

Inflation impact: One of the biggest topics lawmakers will need to navigate this farm bill is higher costs for farm inputs and food production.

Inflation “goes up quickly and comes down slowly,” Thompson said. “And so as we work on the 2023 Farm Bill, that's one of our realities.”

Budget: Thompson told reporters he’d work with the House Budget Committee, which is expected to pass a budget resolution that will guide farm bill spending. If that resolution boosts the baseline it could run into problems with House conservatives, who will want cuts.

Nutrition: Lawmakers were united in that the farm bill has to stay together, meaning nutrition along with farm subsidies in one package. No lawmakers were supportive of breaking up the bills, though the Republicans in attendance endorsed ways to get recipients into better paying jobs and off of benefits.

Safety net: Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), who will likely chair the general farm commodities and risk management subcommittee, said he’d like to start by examining reference prices for commodities. Those reference prices are critical for safety net programs like the Price Loss Coverage and Agriculture Risk Coverage programs, which protect farmers from turbulent markets.

Livestock title: Some in Washington have discussed creating a livestock title in the next farm bill. But Frank Stoltzfus, who spoke on behalf of the Pennsylvania Cattlemen’s Association, told lawmakers he’s not necessarily supporting a livestock title.

Prominent Republicans didn’t give the proposal much support either. “My grandfather wouldn’t have wanted a livestock title either,” Scott said.

Climate: Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), who will likely chair the conservation and forestry subcommittee, went on a rather long tirade about climate in the next farm bill during his closing comments, telling farmers in attendance to be wary of getting “railroaded” into the climate push.

“We work a lot on conservation programs … a key component of that is that they always remain voluntary,” LaMalfa said. “So if we’re gonna do headstands in this country to change all our industry and agriculture because of the gross of .01 percent of CO2, we’re gonna find ourselves not producing anything in this country.”

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), a prominent lawmaker in climate-ag, said the committee must make “sure we are treating farmers as partners in climate change … farmers are our best partners in soil health, in conservation [and] pasture-based livestock.”

Shaken not stirred: Several members at the listening session were hand-delivered milkshakes in the prominent dairy state of Pennsylvania. MA was very jealous watching Reps. Pingree and Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) gulp down the shakes. “You don’t go away hungry,” from the Pennsylvania Farm Show, quipped LaMalfa.

MEET THE MAJORITY: MA also caught up with Reps. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) and Mary Miller (R-Ill.) about some of their farm bill priorities, after the event in Pennsylvania.

Alford is a freshman elected to fill former House Ag member Vicky Hartzler’s MO-04 seat in Congress.

“I firmly believe that food security equals national security,” Alford said. “I want to do everything I can to fight for the best deal for our farmers for crop insurance but also food security for our citizens that through the SNAP program they continue to get the food they need.”

Alford said his dad was an ag teacher, his family had a horse ranch in the past and his brother-in-law currently farms 3,500 acres in his district.

“So we've seen some of the hardships especially with the inflation issues that have come about — the price of fertilizer tripling,” he added.

Current House Ag member Miller, when MA asked about her farm bill priorities, said she wants to “promote things that make it easy for people to be productive.”

“So reasonable regulations,” Miller added. “Then I think we need to deal with China and trade.”

Speaker race fallout: Miller, who was one of the 20 Republicans who initially opposed Kevin McCarthy’s speaker bid, told MA the group “wanted to get a good rules package and we did.” She added that “everybody's very pleased with it,” even Republicans who weren’t part of the holdout crew. (It’s worth noting some of her GOP colleagues are not happy with the package and the backroom dealing that went on.)

Rules implications: But as we’ve noted, that new GOP rules package will likely complicate how the farm bill gets to the House floor, and it could also impact how crop insurance fits into the final legislation. Some aides are concerned that some of the new rules like the single subject clause could make passing a farm bill challenging, depending on how strictly they are abided by.

NEW AG COMMITTEE FACES: The Republican House Steering Committee released the names of new Ag Committee members late on Monday.

New members: Alford and Van Orden both got seats on the committee. As well, former Ag Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) is back. Reps. John Rose (R-Tenn.), Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas), John Duarte (R-Calif.), Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.), Max Miller (R-Ohio), Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) and Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) all gained seats.

Returning members: Thompson, Scott, LaMalfa and Miller all retained their seats. Reps. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.), David Rouzer (R-N.C.), Trent Kelly (R-Miss.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Jim Baird (R-Ind.), Tracey Mann (Kan.), Barry Moore (R-Ala.), Kat Cammack (R-Fla.). Brad Finstad (R-Minn.) and Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) are all back.

WHEN WILL THE FIRST HEARING BE? The House Agriculture Committee likely won’t have its first official farm bill hearing until February at the earliest, since the panel still needs to organize and sort out subcommittee assignments, according to two people familiar with the plans.

DAVID SCOTT’S PRIORITIES: At the same time as Thompson’s listening session, Ag Committee ranking member David Scott (D-Ga.) released his priorities for the farm bill.

Scott, who was tapped to again lead the committee’s Democrats last month, gave five priorities for his party in the 2023 farm bill.

1. Expand rural broadband
2. Land-grant universities: Scott wants to add an additional $100 million in funding to the 1890 Land Grant African American College and Universities Student Scholarship Program, and make it permanent.
3. Rancher aid: The top Democrat also wants to strengthen the safety net for ranchers, though he didn’t offer any specifics on how. However, Scott did introduce a bill last year to do that.
4. Defending SNAP: Scott said the farm bill needs to “maintain the nutrition safety net and examine any gaps in coverage while ensuring that job opportunities, education and training are available.” Nutrition makes up about 80 percent of the farm bill’s total spending, so is usually where lawmakers turn when cuts are needed — which Democrats will likely fight tooth and nail.
5. Climate and weather: Scott described the current farm bill conservation programs “oversubscribed,” and called for increased technical assistance for farmers and ranchers looking to enroll in USDA conservation programs.