Farm Bill Markup Fails in Committee: What It Means for Organic
In a previous blog post, we shared that the Senate Farm Bill discussion draft included some modest progress for organic, but left out several priorities essential to the long-term success of the organic sector. Last Thursday, Aug. 6, the Senate Agriculture Committee met to mark up and vote on the Farm Bill, and not much changed related to progress for organic.
Here’s the latest:
Going into the markup, it was clear that Democrats would oppose the bill because it failed to include the two-year delay in SNAP cuts they requested in order to support the bill. In addition, two Republican senators (Mitch McConnell, Tommy Tuberville) and one Democratic senator (Slotkin) were absent for the vote. The final vote was 10-11, and the farm bill failed to pass out of committee.
Ahead of the farm bill markup, Senators filed any amendments they wanted to offer during the markup. Over 100 amendments were filed, including amendments covering key NOC priorities:
increasing organic certification cost share funding and reimbursement rates,
increasing funding for organic research,
expanding support for organic market development,
enhancing organic enforcement authorities.
While all of these amendments were filed, only one was offered during the markup. In part, this is because Republicans made it clear that unless Democrats were willing to support the bill overall, Republicans would vote down any amendments offered — even those they would typically support.
The one organic-related amendment filed and then offered by Sen. Welch (D-Vt.) was an amendment to authorize the Organic Market Development Grant program. While this amendment was voted down, Chairman Boozman (R-Ark.) suggested this was something he was willing to work with Sen. Welch to address in the future.
Rather than adjourn, Chairman Boozman recessed the committee, leaving the door open for another vote after the August recess. The chairman recently announced his plans to reconvene the committee on September 15 to hold another vote on final passage of the bill, presumably when more Republican Senators can be there to support final passage.
What’s Next:
The markup vote was just another step in the farm bill’s path of uncertainty in passing this year. Even if Chairman Boozman is able to pass the bill out of committee in September on a party-line vote, it will be hard to achieve the 60 votes needed to pass the bill on the Senate floor, unless the chairman can reach a compromise with Democrats. This could mean that Congress reverts to another one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill, as they’ve done in each of the last three years, or they negotiate another path forward in the lame-duck session in December, after the midterm elections.
The next step remains to be seen. This means organic priorities remain in limbo. When the committee reconvenes in September, there may still be a path to include organic-related amendments, but if the farm bill shifts to a one-year extension instead, these priorities may not get addressed until the next markup cycle.
So, while the path to passage is unclear, the need for continued advocacy remains clear. As long as the farm bill is still in its draft form we can continue to push for the inclusion of organic priorities. NOC’s Farm Bill Action Alert remains active and it’s not too late to write to your Senators about what matters most to you.