Page 85 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

By Sara Wyant

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2017 - It’s a time-honored tradition for any legislative advocate to
look for partners who can align politically.

Over the history of U.S. farm bills – dating back to the 1930s – the “traditional” farm
organizations have aligned with a wide variety of other special interest organizations, ranging
from labor unions to nutrition advocates and conservation groups.

But as attacks from groups on both the ultra-left and ultra-right escalated during the 2014 farm
bill debate, one thing was becoming crystal clear for farm organization leaders: They needed
more “friends” in order to hold on to crop insurance, conservation and even some of their desired
commodity programs.

And not just any friends. Farmers and ranchers needed passionate advocates who could fill out
the congressional “map” a lot better than they could.

Agriculture and food production exists in every state and
therefore, has strong representation in the U.S. Senate. But in
the House of Representatives, the corn, cotton and wheat
coalition that has historically played a leading role in shaping
farm policy and passing farm bills no longer fills out much of
the congressional maps.

Jonathan Coppess and Todd Kuethe, writing for FarmDoc
daily last year, used data on major crop growing areas from
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service to illustrate
how some of the traditional farm coalition “previously gained
and currently maintains national support for commodity
programs by uniting producers across regions.” (See map,
following.)

www.Agri-Pulse.com 83