2023 Fall Farm Outlook Lincoln Daily News Oct 2023 Page 35 of able-bodied adults without dependents rose from 18-49 to 18-54 and provided new exceptions for the homeless, veterans, and youth aging out of foster care; the FRA reduced the exemptions to the able bodied American work requirement to 8% from 12% in the 2018 farm bill. The FRA also terminated the rights of the states to carryover these exemptions, ensuring that each state meet federal able bodied American work requirements. Chairman GT Thompson and the House Agriculture Committee are crafting a 2023 farm bill with six key components: Strengthening the farm safety net, streamlining the government, ensuring fiscal responsibility, creating opportunities that restore accountability and promote health, revitalizing rural America, and conserving our farms and forests. More than 200 members of Congress have never voted on a farm bill. Chairman Thompson has spent countless hours touring America to hear from producers and consumers alike gathering information for the bill. The farm bill will focus on revitalizing rural America. This year Republicans have the opportunity to produce a bill that invests in the future of agriculture. According to Chairman Thompson their top priority is to produce a bill written by farmers, for farmers. GOP held districts contain 92 percent of all planted acres in the US. No piece of legislature has a better return on investment than the farm bill. The agriculture sector provides more than 46 million jobs, $2.6 trillion in wages, $947 billion in tax revenue, $202 billion in exports, and $8.6 trillion in economic activity for twotenths of one percent of federal spending. Though not in the committee’s direct jurisdiction, Chairman Thompson and Ranking Committee Member David Scott formed the bipartisan Agricultural Labor Working Group to target workforce issues affecting our producers. American farmers increasingly are turning to overseas workers to fill the gap caused by a lack of reliable labor in the US. This committee, chaired by Rep. Rick Crawford of AR and Rep. Don Davis of NC, is expected to produce a final report by the end of the year that will provide a variety of potential solutions to the labor problem. We are all aware that our farmers have faced challenges and the hope for the 2023 farm bill is that Congress will be willing to make difficult, but necessary financial and policy decisions that put our producers first. We need a farm bill that gives American taxpayers and producers alike accountability for as well as transparency into the vital agricultural programs that keep America sustainable. [Lesleigh Bennett] Resources: 2023_august_recess_packet_combined.pdf (house.gov) The 2023 Farm Bill: Legislative Updates for Farmers | AgAmerica 2023-Farm-Bill-Platform.pdf (sustainableagriculture.net) Farm Bill 2023: Questions About the Focus on SNAP Work Requirements - farmdoc daily (illinois.edu)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzExODA=