The Trump administration passed a budget reconciliation bill in July which cut funding for a number of agricultural programs. Those cuts were redirected into subsidies that some claim unfairly benefit large farming corporations.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition wrote a letter to Congress urging legislators to pass a new farm bill. The farm bill dictates funding and policy around the country’s agricultural industry.
The authors push policymakers to restore funding for programs like SNAP that support local food systems. The Montana Organic Association signed on.
"We're hoping that that relationship that's been developed over a really long time, where the government is a champion for farmers, is going to be maintained and that we're able to keep family farms on the land in Montana," Montana Organic Association Spokesperson Nate Powell-Palm says.
Powell-Palm says renewing a farm bill as a whole is critical today. The last update to the policy passed in 2018.
Montana Public Radio is a public service of the University of Montana. State government coverage is funded in part through a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
