Oklahoma Farmers Meet With Lawmakers In DC To Discuss 2023 Farm Bill

Among the most important things on Congress’s plate right now that is not in the national media spotlight is the 2023 Farm Bill. Directly, or indirectly, advocates say, it will affect all Americans.

The House and Senate agriculture committees are beginning to work on the once-every-five-years legislation, which is why more than a dozen farmers and ranchers from Oklahoma were in Washington recently, wanting to make sure the state’s congressional delegation -- and especially Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK3), a legacy member of the House Agriculture Committee -- knows what their priorities are.

“The most important thing is crop insurance, no doubt,” said Curtis Dick a farmer and rancher from Corn, Oklahoma.

It was Dick’s first trip to Washington, facilitated by Farm Credit of Western Oklahoma, which brings groups of western Oklahoma farmers and ranchers to the nation‘s capital very year.

He said, in addition to doing some sightseeing, he and the 15 others in the group met with Oklahoma’s Representatives and Senators, “to let them know what we have going on out in the country, out on the farm, and also then hear from them about the battles they’re facing up here, and just sort of see what the political landscape is.”

“The Oklahoman Delegation is always tremendous,” said John Grunewald, Farm Credit of Western Oklahoma CEO, “from Congressman Lucas to all of them on the House and Senate side, they talk our language and they understand the importance of the Farm Bill. The big work we have to do is the non-farm states.”

At a time when many Republicans in Congress, including some in the Oklahoma delegation, believe that spending levels need to be reduced across the board, there is concern in the farming and ranching communities that crop insurance could take a hit in the Farm Bill.

"We definitely need to fund crop insurance," said Dick, "we don’t need to give any funding away on that, it provides the farmers with a safety net."

"It has to be paramount," said Zac Harris, a fifth-generation farmer from Hobart, "because anybody you bank with now, they’re going to ask if you have crop insurance and at what level, because that makes you bankable to them -- they want to protection just like you want and need to protection."

Harris, Dick and the others are trying to be realistic about what Congress might deliver in the 2023 Farm Bill. Many of them agree that the national debt it too high and spending has to be reduced -- they just don't believe a safety net as critical as theirs should be touched.

"What we have to do is let them know that we could be 3 to 4 missed meals away from mass chaos in this country, if we start messing with our food security," Brent McIntyre, a farmer from Temple.

The empty store shelves that Americans saw early in the pandemic, they say, we could see again, if crop insurance is cut. Those are the images they hope lawmakers in Washington will keep in mind.

"Absolutely, that’s what we’re here for," said McIntyre.

Where many Republicans believe they can cut the Farm Bill is on SNAP benefits (food stamps), by tightening the program’s work requirements. But that is a non-starter for many Democrats, and the Farm Bill will certainly need bipartisan support to pass.