For those of us on the farm or connected to the agriculture industry, we have been keeping a close watch on the movement toward a new Farm Bill.

This all-important agriculturally related legislation serves as the cornerstone of ag and nutrition programs and is reauthorized every five years.

While the deadline for passage comes September 30, lawmakers continue to navigate their way through the legislation’s 12 different titles and all the regulatory information that is included in a Farm Bill.

This process has been going on for decades from a time when most legislators were familiar with agriculture and the purpose of the bill until today, when more than 260 of them have never been involved in its passage.

With that said, advocacy becomes a critical component in getting this bill passed in a way that supports the necessities on the farm, a solid structure for the industry, and the nutritional programs so many depend upon.

Farm Bureau, along with our friends in all of the agriculture commodity groups in this state and across the country, has been active in these advocacy efforts since the first Farm Bill was passed in 1933.

Throughout those years we have seen an untold number of advances on the farm that have helped us become more efficient and able to produce more with fewer inputs. However, we cannot continue to improve our production abilities without the proper support from the Farm Bill.

Keeping farm families in business should be a priority for everyone be they the lawmakers who will vote on the bill or the neighbors who reap the benefits of our labors every time they go to the grocery store.

Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB) has convened Farm Bill working groups and committees for years helping to develop unified messages about the needs of farm families and this industry.

We continue to work with our elected officials, at all levels, to keep them apprised of the issues we face on the farm, and what they can do to help us turn challenges into opportunities.

And, as we move toward a time when our KFB Resolutions Committee will meet to discuss current priorities and adopt new policies, we will remain focused on the needs of farm families and rural communities.

We may be at a time when the Farm Bill is front and center in agricultural discussions, but we should never forget that the needs of our ag industry and the farms we so greatly depend on never end.

We do not expect the passage of a new bill to take place at the end of the month. This is not unusual when it comes to getting a Farm Bill across the finish line. But the sooner we get this bill passed and done so in a manner that supports our agriculture industry, as a whole, the better.

We must be vigilant in our efforts to have our voices heard, and issues addressed, as well as advocate to leave in place the regulations that do not need to be changed.

Eddie Melton, First Vice President
Kentucky Farm Bureau