Oklahoma Farmers Urge Congress To Pass New Farm Bill, Say Extension Isn’t Enough

One of the things Congress needs to get done in the next few weeks is to pass an extension of the Farm Bill, parts of which will begin to expire at the end of the month.

But many who make their living in agriculture, including some from Oklahoma, have been in the nation’s capital this week telling members an extension isn’t good enough.

To be clear, farmers and ranchers are already operating under a yearlong extension of the 2018 Farm Bill and they trying to say, in one loud, clear voice, too much has changed in six years — passage of a new bill is critical

“We’re under financial strain as farmers right now,” said Alva’s Kent Martin, a board member on the Oklahoma Sorghum Association.

Martin was one in a group of farmers 

lobbying Wednesday in the office of Nebraska Congressman Adrian Smith. Together, the group represented several commodities, which he says is fairly unusual.

“This kind of push hasn't been done since the 80s, where multiple commodities all came together, all unified on one very, very loud and clear message,” said Martin. “And that message is: get a Farm Bill done.”

In the group with Martin was Sentinel's Jimmie Musick, past National Association of Wheat Growers president.

He says Frank Lucas and the Oklahoma delegation understand what they're facing, but he says plenty of others in Congress don't--they think agriculture is doing well.

“They really don’t understand in the slightest,” Musick said in an interview, “that agriculture’s not doing all right.”

While inflation has pushed up input costs (fuel, fertilizer, seed, etc.), the prices of wheat, corn, soy and other major commodities are down more than 40% in the last two years.

Musick says the reference prices in the current Farm Bill are just too low.

“It’s probably 20 or 30%, at a minimum, too low,” Musick explained, “and farmers can’t make it work like that.”

Former Oklahoma Pork Council Executive Director Roy Lee Lindsey, now CEO of the North Carolina Pork Council, was in Washington with a team of lobbyists this week pushing the same message in as many members’ offices as possible. 

“We don't need an extension,” said Lindsey in an interview Tuesday. “We need a new farm bill. Our crop farmers need it. Our livestock producers need it …. For us, this is not a partisan issue, this is a true bipartisan, everybody benefits when we have a good Farm Bill, and let's get one done.”

Related Coverage:

1. Oklahoma Food Bank Executives Press For Support Of Farm Bill
2. Oklahoma Farmers Meet With Lawmakers In DC To Discuss Farm Bill
3. Oklahoma Rep. Frank Lucas Offers Insight On Farm Bill