The Farm Bill is on the table this year in DC, and advocates from ranch country are making their voices heard. That’s why the state Farmers Union, among others from across the country, hosted a fly-in to meet with members of congress.
From farm subsidies to conservation efforts, the Farm Bill is one of the most wide-sweeping, and consequential pieces of federal legislation when it passes.
One member of the fly-in group, Dustin Schmidt, said it’s time for something more substantial.
“It seems like everything comes down to parties," Schmidt said. "I wish we didn’t have to deal with it. We need a bipartisan group to come in and say ‘Hey, this is how we need it to work for the world,’ you know? It has nothing to do with parties."
Schmidt is a western South Dakota rancher, and member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. He said he feels like congress is listening to the group on its biggest priorities, like mandatory country of origin labeling, or MCOOL.
"If you go to the grocery store, you walk in and go up to the counter, can you tell that the hamburger was raised here in South Dakota – homegrown," Schmidt asks. "Or did it come from Brazil, or did it come from Canada? Where did it come from? Do you get to have that option?”
Over a decade ago, the World Trade organization announced MCOOL unfairly discriminated against foreign meat suppliers like Mexico and Canada. Lawmakers have tried to bring the program back ever since.
Schmidt said he’d like to see the farm bill also address pricing transparency in cattle markets, crop insurance options, and keeping farms in the control of families rather than corporations.
“(The Farm Bill) covers so many things, there’s so much stuff thrown into the Farm Bill," Schmidt said. "We depend a lot on FSA programs in place to help us, and without a farm bill we don’t get to utilize a lot of those programs. So, it’s pretty serious.”
The most recent Farm Bill was passed in 2018, and the five-year lifespan was extended by a brief stopgap last year. That stopgap expires at the end of this month.