Senate Agriculture Committee introduces 2024 Farm Bill

Key Takeaways

On November 18, Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) introduced the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act, the Senate’s version of the 2024 Farm Bill. The proposed package authorizes numerous programs that help counties invest in infrastructure, economic development, workforce training, nutrition, and conservation, with a special focus on our nation’s most underserved communities. For more information on the Farm Bill, check out NACo’s Farm Bill Reauthorization Resource Hub, which hosts all of NACo’s key Farm Bill updates.

Thanks to NACo’s advocacy efforts, the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act advances key wins for county governments, including new mandatory funding for rural development programs for the first time in Farm Bill history, expanded provisions designed to strengthen the county role in public lands management, key improvements to federal nutrition programs and the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. 

While lawmakers must confront a series of hurdles to secure final passage of the Farm Bill before the conclusion of the 118th Congress, NACo will continue to work with our congressional partners to pass a bipartisan farm bill that empowers counties to unlock the full potential of our communities.

Breaking Down Key Provisions

Below, you will find a summary of key county priorities included in the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act. Full bill text can be found here and a summary of the bill can be found here.

Agriculture Support

• Raises reference prices for covered crops under the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs
• Creates a permanent structure for disaster assistance so federal aid can reach farmers sooner
• Supports new farmers by providing discounts on crop insurance premiums and new opportunities to access commodity programs, supporting education and training for the next generation of farmers and creating a new program to support agricultural studies at community colleges
• Creates the Office of Small Farms to advance policy improvements at the U.S. Department of Agriculture that can better support small and family farms 
• Strengthens local food systems by fostering local market opportunities for farmers, building public-private partnerships to promote food system resilience and investing in value-added agricultural production
• Addresses the mental health crisis in farm country through new investments in the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, which connects farmers and their families with behavioral health resources 

Nutrition

• Maintains regular updates to the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), ensuring that SNAP benefits can account for the changing costs of food, dietary needs and purchasing patterns
• Lifts the lifetime ban currently preventing individuals with felony drug convictions from qualifying for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Explores options for SNAP benefits to purchase hot foods
• Improves access to SNAP for eligible post-secondary students, including those who are former foster youth

Conservation and Public Lands

• Permanently authorizes Farm Bill conservation programs
• Improves the Conservation Stewardship Program by adding a new focus on transitioning farmers
• Addresses wildfire risk by expanding partnership programs to increase the pace and scale of forest management, as well as additional investments in wood innovation programs that help build markets and support fuel reduction
• Extends full eligibility to county governments under Good Neighbor Authority, which allows counties to retain and reinvest profits from joint land management projects on federal lands into other authorized projects on non-federal lands
• Reauthorizes key land management authorities, including the Landscape Scale Restoration Program and Shared Stewardship Contracting
• Reauthorizes the Secure Rural Schools program, providing forest counties with revenue sharing payments for key investments in infrastructure, education and disaster management

Rural Development

• Establishes the Rural Partnership Program, which would empower counties to lead public-private partnerships to invest in locally driven rural development initiatives. The program will receive $100 million in mandatory funding annually
• Formalizes and expands the Rural Partners Network, an initiative that embeds federal staff in rural counties to improve their ability to access federal resources.
• Continues investments in rural broadband by providing $1 billion in new resources to strengthen the ReConnect Program
• Establishes mandatory funding for rural economic development, water infrastructure, and community facilities projects
• Prioritizes projects that address the availability, quality and cost of childcare in rural areas