Breaking Down the Federal Farm Bill’s Impact on Vermonters From Field to Fork 

• Kirsten Thompson ©️ Seven Days
• Projected Outlays Under the 2018 Farm Act, 2019-2023

For months, the future of federal farming policy has been the subject of a political stalemate in U.S. Congress. The current Agriculture Improvement Act, commonly called the Farm Bill, was passed in 2018 to direct roughly $428 billion to implementing policies on food and farming over a five-plus-year period.

Set to expire in 2023, the Farm Bill has been granted a one-year extension until September 30. It's an omnibus, and it's obtuse. Unless you're a member of Congress, there's little reason to dive into the acronym-filled nitty-gritty of how it funds everything from nutrition assistance to bioenergy to rural development to climate-smart farming to commodity crops such as dairy, corn and wheat.

Or is there?

"One of the reasons the Farm Bill is so critical is that it really impacts the average Vermonter and the average eater," said Maddie Kempner, policy director at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont.

Kempner helped us translate how the Farm Bill's major programs affect four of those average Vermonters, influencing everything from food choices at the market to the health of our rivers and lakes.

The 3SquaresVT Recipient

Nutrition

$326,020,000,000 | 76.1%

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• Sophia Shukina | Dreamstime

The largest chunk of Farm Bill funding by far — more than three-quarters of it — goes to nutrition programs. The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, called 3SquaresVT here, helps low-income Americans stretch their budgets wherever they buy food, even at some farmers markets.

Kempner said the current Congressional stalemate has a lot to do with the bill's SNAP funding: Republicans want to reduce it in favor of crop insurance and commodity payments, while Democrats want to maintain it.

Ivy Enoch, Hunger Free Vermont's food security advocacy manager, wrote that "Vermonters should not worry about benefits lapsing despite Congressional spending deadlines."

In January alone, more than $12.8 million in SNAP funding was distributed to 67,583 individuals in 40,003 Vermont households. That's a "critical safety net for the 2 in 5 people in Vermont who experience hunger," according to the Vermont Farm Bill Nutrition Coalition.

The Farmers Market Regular

Crop Insurance

$38,010,000,000 | 8.9%

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• File: Hannah Palmer Egan
• Produce at the Burlington Farmers Market

Specialty crops sold by small, local producers at farmers markets can seem expensive compared with grocery store staples.

But those market prices are more likely to reflect the true cost of making a product, Kempner said. Commodity payments and crop insurance — an option for farmers that guarantees their income against pest or weather damage — subsidize staple prices for large-scale farms elsewhere in the country. Most of Vermont's small farms can't compete, which is why you feel like you're paying a premium for their wares.

The Grocery Shopper

Commodities

$31,440,000,000 | 7.3%

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• File: Luke Awtry
• Grocery products at Kerry's Kwik Stop in Burlington

At first glance, modern shoppers seem spoiled for choice. But the selections in the cooler and the cereal aisle start with the Farm Bill.

"A lot of what's available in the grocery store is either highly processed or full of commodity ingredients, like high-fructose corn syrup, from farms that were heavily subsidized to grow that product," Kempner said.

The bill establishes commodity payments to farmers who produce staples such as corn, soybeans, wheat, dairy and sugar. Yield-based payments incentivize farmers to grow even more, and the most widely produced crops become the most consumed.

There may be 20 varieties of Cheerios, but they all contain the same oats, cornstarch and sugar. Consumers choose the marketing, not the ingredients.

The Fly-Fishing Enthusiast

Conservation

$29,270,000,000 | 6.8%

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• File: Oliver Parini
• Jamie Eisenberg fly-fishing in Underhill in 2022

Ever heard of a riparian buffer? Thanks to conservation programs funded by the Farm Bill, these plantings of perennials and native vegetation on farms provide important wildlife habitat and help keep our lakes and rivers clean. That's good news for anyone looking to cast a line — and it's just one of the practices these conservation programs can fund. Kempner called them "a really excellent element of the Farm Bill."

"We want Vermont farmers to take increasing advantage of them," she said.

In the bill's current extension, some of these programs are reaching funding caps. Whether they run out depends on what Congress does — or doesn't do — this year.