Proposed House farm bill would benefit U.S. sheep industry 

As August comes to an end, the Sept. 30 deadline for Congress to pass a new farm bill looms on the horizon.

Running on a one-year extension of a six-year-old law, the agriculture industry – on many occasions over the past year – has urged the House and Senate to pass a new bill, voicing the importance of updated policy and their concerns with another year-long extension of the 2018 legislation.

Mid-May saw some promise when House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) proposed competing updated farm bill texts.

Thompson’s Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2024 garnered support across the ag industry, with agencies like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation voicing their support. 

Sheep industry benefits

In the July 2024 edition of the American Sheep Industry Association’s (ASI) Sheep Industry News publication,ASI President and Wyoming Sheep Producer Brad Boner outlines ways the proposed House farm bill addresses concerns for the American sheep industry.

Boner notes Thompson’s farm bill would benefit the sheep industry in many ways, including substantially increasing the existing marketing loan rate for American wool, which has not been adjusted since 2002, and including baseline and increased funding for the Agricultural Fiber Products Trust Fund, which provides significant benefits to wool apparel manufacturers as well as the promotion and research of wool.

The bill would also increase funding for the Sheep Production and Marketing Grant Program, which directly benefits the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center and its associated grant programs and provide double funding to foreign market programs like the Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development Program, housed under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

According to ASI, these programs help U.S. producers market wool overseas. 

“This text from Thompson provides real support to our sheep producers,” Boner states. “The text is favorable toward the sheep industry in areas such as foreign animal disease management, drought and feed losses, foreign market development programs – which we are heavily reliant on for marketing American wool – as well as the wool marketing loan. The wool marketing loan is the only sheep-specific risk management tool available to American wool growers, so it’s important the program can respond to the current wool market.”

Deadline approaches

As the September deadline approaches, progress has slowed on the proposed bills, and according to Organic Farmers Association Policy Director Lily Hawkins, the House farm bill must still pass on the House Floor. 

Although this is always a difficult task due to the inclusion of several policies Democrats view as “red lines,” the Congressional Budget Office stated the House Ag Committee’s farm bill would raise the federal budget deficit by $33 billion over the next decade, making a way forward even more challenging, Hawkins notes.

“Meanwhile in the Senate, the Republican response to the Majority Senate farm bill framework closely resembled the House bill, and the Senate Agriculture Committee will need to work to pass a consolidated Senate version,” Hawkins explains.

“Once both chambers have passed their own version of the bill, leaders from the House and Senate will work to combine the two bills into one, which can then be voted on by the full Congress,” she continues. 

With this, Hawkins believes it is unlikely the process will be completed before the September deadline, especially with the 2024 election around the corner. In this case, the 2018 Farm Bill will be extended again until September 2025. 

Hannah Bugas is the managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.