ASFMRA’s Leadership Excellence Program

During the week of September 23, 2024, I had the opportunity to travel to Washington DC as part of the ASFMRA’s Leadership Excellence Program. This learning and advocacy program is a joint venture between the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers (ASFMRA) and Corteva Agriscience to help equip the next generation of leaders in the farm management and appraisal business. There were 26 attendees from 15 states representing our organization. Iowa had the most attendees with 6. We had the entire United States covered with representatives from California to Massachusetts and Georgia to Montana. The group had met two previous times in Denver, CO and Des Moines, IA in the 18 months before this trip.

The daily schedule was full with advocacy training being the first item on the agenda. Part of the requirement for this trip is scheduling meetings with your respective Senators and Representatives. These meetings usually only last 15-20 minutes, so being able to clearly articulate our talking points was very important.

All 6 representatives from the Iowa group were able to attend meetings with the agriculture staff of Iowa Senators Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst. Unfortunately, getting meetings with the Senators is very difficult with their Washinton DC schedules. I was one of two western Iowa attendees to meet with Representative Randy Feenstra’s agricultural staff person. Congressmen are usually easier to schedule and meet with in-person, but unfortunately for us, Representative Feenstra was presiding over the House of Representatives on Wednesday afternoon when we scheduled our meeting.

Farm Bill

Our biggest topic was the need to authorize a new 5-year Farm Bill. The previous farm bill was extended an extra year at the end of 2023 with intentions of having a new one passed before expiration on September 30, 2024. Now September 30th has come and gone, and we do not have a new farm bill, and we also don’t have another one-year extension. The expiration of the previous farm bill does not mean that all programs encompassed under the previous bill will stop as many of the titles are statutorily obligated to continue. The SNAP program (commonly known as food stamps) is an example that will continue without interruption. We also advocated for a stronger crop insurance program to ensure our farmers are better able to weather the ups and downs of the farm economy without losing too many producers to bankruptcy.

All 3 representatives we met with agreed that a new farm bill was a high priority, but they were not all equally optimistic about one getting passed before January of 2025 when the next congress takes over. Senator Ernst was the most pessimistic as she stated that she had very little hope that the Senate would get anything done before the end of the year when we attended her Wednesday morning “Coffee with Joni” event in the Russel Senate Office Building. The chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee is Senator Deb Stabenow from Michigan. She has yet to release text of the Senate’s version of the new farm bill. So far, she has only released a “framework” publicly. Representative Feenstra’s agriculture staff person was the most optimistic about passing a new farm bill since the House of Representatives had already passed their version of the new farm bill out of the Agriculture Committee.

Other meetings while in Washington DC included meetings with the professional staff members for both sides of the Senate Ag Committee. We heard very different goals for a new farm bill from these two professional staff members as one works for Chairwoman Stabenow (D) of Michigan and the other works for Ranking Member John Boozman (R) from Arkansas.

We were also fortunate to meet with Representative Glenn “GT” Thompson (R), Chair of the House Ag Committee from Pennsylvania on Thursday morning. Our meeting room was accidentally double booked, and we proceeded to finish our meeting with his professional staff in the hallway outside the meeting room. Our ASFMRA lobbyist assured us that meeting with representatives in the hallway was normal as space is usually limited. Chairman Thompson’s ag committee staff shared a few of the highlights that they are trying to have added to the next farm bill. The group was very positive with the wish list that included updating and adding base acres, but the question, as always, is how to pay for it.

One personal highlight happened during dinner on Tuesday evening. The Iowa group had met with our two Senators’ staff members that day. We asked them both about something they would recommend doing while we were in town. One recommendation was to visit a local restaurant very near the Senate office buildings. “You never know who you will see there.” We decided to try out the restaurant and had a great

experience. Multiple Senators were seated a couple tables away from us during our visit, including Iowa Senator Charles Grassley.

I want to personally thank Corteva Agriscience and ASFMRA for the opportunity to be part of this learning experience and opportunity to learn more about the workings of our Federal Government.