New York Farm Bureau‘s national priorities for 2024 include the passage of a strong Farm Bill, dairy pricing improvements, and rural mental health issues.
New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher said while a one-year extension was passed in 2023, Congress needs to pass an updated Farm Bill, “Global unrest in places like Ukraine and shipping uncertainties in the Red Sea, Suez and Panama canals illustrate that we can’t rely on other countries to get food to the U.S. It is important to safeguard our own food supply, and the farm bill helps to do just that. Food security is part of national security.”
Fisher said these protections include strong risk management tools to help farms following extreme weather events. He said risk management options need to be expanded to include all crops, as some like cabbage, strawberries, and maple are not currently covered by insurance programs.
Fisher said new technologies need to be invested in that will enable farmers to continue meeting the needs of America’s families.
Other legislative priorities for the Farm Bureau include agricultural labor reform. Fisher said the bureau will continue to advocate for legislation that will address both short- and long-term labor needs on farms. He said the bureau would like to modernize the H-2A federal guest worker program to have a continuous, legal workforce for all sectors of agriculture. Currently, only farms with seasonal work can use the federal guestworker program.
Fisher said they’re looking to improve pricing for dairy farmers and that milk prices have not changed much in the past 10 years, “To make it more equitable for farmers, NYFB would like to revert back to the pricing structure in the previous Farm Bill. The change made in 2018 has cost farmers billions of dollars in the past five years.”
New York Farm Bureau National Affairs Coordinator Ashley Oeser said another priority issue is rural mental health.
She said New York State has lost nearly 3,000 farms according to the 2022 USDA Agriculture Census. Oeser cited major financial strains on farms that can weigh heavily on farmers’ mental health, especially having the burden of keeping a multi-generational farm going during tough times.
She said the bureau is advocating for increased awareness of mental health resources and having more services available specifically for those who work in agriculture.
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