Welcome to the 2024 General Assembly session! It’s a new year with many new faces. Attributed to redistricting and retirements, Virginia experienced unprecedented turnover in the House and Senate during the November elections. And we’re seeing new faces in Virginia Farm Bureau’s governmental relations team as well. This year, our weekly updates are brought to you by Katelyn Jordan, who joined us about a year ago, and Jake Tabor, who joined just a few weeks ago. Meet Jake in the this video and watch until the end for a preview of our Legislative Day on January 28-29.
The USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) has announced they will be conducting listening sessions throughout the country this winter to gather feedback and to discuss policy improvements to livestock products.
RMA will be conducting more than a dozen in-person and virtual workshops this winter for producers to learn about new and expanded livestock risk management products. This “Roadshow” will highlight policy improvements based on the feedback from producers as a way to promote, educate, and broaden RMA’s outreach to livestock producers.
Specifically, RMA will be discussing and soliciting feedback on the following products:
Annual Forage
Dairy Revenue Protection
Livestock Gross Margin
Livestock Risk Protection
Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage
Weaned Calf Risk Protection (New for Calendar Year 2024)
The Livestock Roadshow builds on other recent outreach and education efforts. Earlier this year, RMA held a roadshow highlighting insurance options for specialty crop, organic, and urban producers, drawing more than 3,000 attendees. Additionally, since 2021, RMA has invested around $13 million in partnerships to advance risk management education.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will host a series of listening sessions this winter. The agencies invite perspectives on the impacts of the rapidly increasing levels of solar and wind energy facilities being sited on agricultural and forestry lands, and in rural communities.
USDA and DOE seek feedback directly from a diverse set of stakeholders about what the agencies can do through their leadership, program guidance, or research and information sharing to encourage positive clean energy siting outcomes for farmers, rural Americans, the renewable energy industry, and others.
Stakeholders must register to participate in public listening sessions that are available virtually by clicking on the selected date and time:
This week, Congress passed H.R.6363, the “Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act of 2024.” The bipartisan legislation prevents a government shutdown and includes a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill. The House passed the bill by a vote of 336-95; the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 87-11, and President Biden has signed it into law.
The purpose of this stop-gap measure was to avoid a government shutdown, allow more time to consider individual appropriations bills, and to prevent an end-of-year omnibus. AFBF sent a letter to all members of Congress expressing support for the legislation and inclusion of a farm bill extension which ensures farmers will not experience any disruptions at the start of the new year.
Notably for farmers, H.R. 6363 funds the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies through January 19, 2024, and funds the Interior, Environment, and Labor agencies through February 2, 2024.
Included in the bill, the House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders brokered a deal to extend the 2018 farm bill through September 30, 2024, and fully funds the orphan programs through that same period. Funding for these programs was achieved by rescinding over $177 million from the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program, commonly referred to as the “Section 9003 program.”
This farm bill extension gives farmers stability and certainty heading in to the 2024 crop year. However, we urge both the House and Senate to stay focused on a new, modernized farm bill that recognizes the many changes and challenges of the past five years. The current farm bill was written before the COVID pandemic, before inflation spiked, and before global unrest sent shock waves through the agricultural and input supply chain. Farm Bureau, the agriculture industry, and both agriculture committees have worked hard over the past 18 months to craft an effective farm bill. Congress must keep that momentum going.
Plows and Politics 