Ernst echoes local farm bill concerns

Feb. 10—WASHINGTON DC — In a series of Senate hearings to discuss the upcoming farm bill, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst brought forward topics of crop insurance and foreign land ownership Thursday, both topics local farmers voiced concerns about months earlier.

The farm bill is a package of legislation passed every five years that has a big impact on farming livelihoods, how food is grown and what kinds of foods are grown. The bills also include subsidies or payments to farmers that meet certain criteria. Each farm bill has a unique title. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 expires in 2023.

This hearing was based on the topics of commodity programs, crop insurance and credit.

"I'm always very impressed with the ways our farmers are continuously seeking to improve their productivity and to always be good stewards of their land," Ernst said. "As a condition of receiving Title I and crop insurance benefits, farmers are required to meet specific environmental standards such as protecting our water quality — very important in Iowa. They have to protect our wetlands and soil health. These are all important and should be maintained but not augmented."

Water and soil health were a main concern of Francis Thicke, a dairy farmer and member of the Farmer's Union, when he spoke in October at the Warren Cultural Center in Greenfield.

His suggestion was to require farmers to meet certain standards in order to qualify for farm subsidies. "What we need to do, I think, is have a requirement for a water quality plan when we farm," Thicke said. "In the 1985 Farm Bill, there was a requirement that any farm who had highly erodible land had to have a soil conservation plan. That plan had to bring the soil erosion down to a certain tolerance level. So they would put their practices in the computer, the computer had the data from research and would spit out how much erosion you're going to get. Too much erosion then you had to go back and change your practices so you met that tolerance level."

Beginning Farmers

John Norris, the former chief of staff for USDA, U.S. minister-counselor for agriculture to UN Rome-based agencies including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program, said since the 1970s, "we've lost more than 70% of farmers."

Ernst pressed the importance of crop insurance for young and beginning farmers. "It is that most important tool that farmers have, and it's critical we maintain that safety net that's affordable as well," she said. "It is especially important as we consider the young and beginning and small farmers because the lenders look at crop insurance as a way to guarantee operating loans."

According to an Iowa State University study, in the next 20 years, the average age of a farmer will be above 58. The 2017 survey showed 60% of farmland owned by people 65 years or older and 35 percent owned by people 75 or older.

Greenfield farmer Randy Caviness said his great-grandfather purchased their farm in 1917 and they still have the century farm today. "My son's got it, I passed it to him," Caviness said. "I told my son, you know you're the last generation that's going to be a family farmer. It's sad. We operate about 4,000 acres. Moving through the 80s, we fought like the devil to stay in business."

Caviness has been active in the agriculture community, having been involved in Adair County and State Farm Bureau volunteer leadership service, former director of Soil Conservation Districts of Iowa, ISU Extension Council service and county wind energy development group.

Foreign Ownership

Ernst called out the processes of the Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) as not up to date, and called for its modernization.

The process for foreign owners of America's agricultural land is done largely by paper with no way to enforce cooperation for owners to fill out the paperwork.

"I think this is something that really needs to be worked on," Ernst said. "Food security is national security, and we really need to make sure we have something to have those resources dedicated to update those systems so we can find ways to enforce much easier than we are now."

AFIDA was created in 1978 to establish a nationwide system for the collection of information pertaining to foreign ownership in U.S. agricultural land. The regulations require foreign investors who acquire, transfer or hold an interest in U.S. agricultural land to report such holdings and transactions to the Secretary of Agriculture via a form.

"As you know, USDA's 2021 AFIDA report, foreign persons hold interests in approximately 41 million acres of U.S. ag land," Ernst said. "That's more total acres than make up my entire home state of Iowa."

As of 2017, more than half of Iowa farmland is owned by someone who does not farm, of which 34% is owned by owners with no farming experience, and the remaining 24% is owned by retired farmers.

The next farm bill hearing will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 16. The focus will be on nutrition programs.