Washington, DC – After holding 11 town hall meetings, three Farm Bill listening sessions, and meeting with hundreds of farmers, working families, and nutrition advocates in Upstate New York, U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro (NY-19) today unveiled the 2024 Farm Bill alongside the House Committee on Agriculture. The Farm Bill sets agricultural, food, and nutrition policy in the United States for five years. The newly unveiled Farm Bill delivers relief for farmers and working families struggling with rising costs and includes ten bipartisan Molinaro-authored bills.
On food and nutrition policy, the bill increases Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by preserving the program’s cost of living adjustment, increases funding for food banks, and enables families to purchase more fruits and vegetables through food assistance programs. It also includes bipartisan Molinaro-authored bills to help food insecure seniors receive healthy meals and allow working individuals with disabilities aged 17 to 21 receive SNAP benefits.
On agricultural policy, the bill includes bipartisan Molinaro-authored bills to strengthen the Dairy Margin Coverage safety net program, increase funding for support services for farm families with disabilities, and deliver more support to organic farmers. Other bills that Rep. Molinaro wrote and got included in the Farm Bill will strengthen flood prevention efforts in rural communities and support workers at National Pipe & Plastics in Endicott.
Rep. Molinaro said, “I asked to serve on the House Agriculture Committee because of its role in crafting the Farm Bill. This bill is a big deal for Upstate New York and I took the past year and a half to listen and learn from working families and farmers in our community. With costs pressing down on farmers, this Farm Bill delivers real relief and should help Upstate New York’s agricultural industry breathe a little easier.”
Rep. Molinaro continued, “Growing up on food stamps, I also know the value of having strong nutrition assistance programs. This safety net helped get my family out of poverty. For this Farm Bill to earn my support, it had to increase SNAP to account for rising food costs and make more dollars available to struggling food banks. I fought to check these boxes.”
A full list of Molinaro’s bipartisan bills in the Farm Bill can be found here:
- Dairy Farm Resiliency Act: This bill will strengthen the Dairy Margin Coverage safety net program by insuring more milk production.
- Delivering for Rural Seniors Act: This bill will allow seniors living in rural areas, seniors with disabilities, and those with mobility or transportation issues to receive home delivery services from food banks participating in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.
- ThinkDIFFERENTLY Nutrition and Opportunities Act: Under current law, students with disabilities are allowed to be in secondary school until they’re 21. If a student with disability aged 18 to 21 gets a part time job, their income gets counted for the purposes of SNAP and can result in a reduction of family benefits. This bipartisan bill prevents these working students from losing benefits
- ThinkDIFFERENTLY Agriculture Accessibility Act: This bill reauthorizes and increases funding for AgrAbility, a USDA program that provides funding for support services and assistive technology farmers/farm families with disabilities.
- Flooding Prevention, Assessment, and Restoration Act: This bill incentivizes the construction of more resilient flood infrastructure and helps smaller rural communities easier access federal funding for these projects.
- Training and Nutrition Stability Act: This bill exempts income earned from SNAP Education and Training Programs from impacting participants’ SNAP benefits. Currently, participants who earn income under these temporary workforce development programs can inadvertently disqualify themselves from SNAP.
- Organic Dairy Data Collection Act: This bill supports organic dairy farmers in Upstate New York by enhancing data collection at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), allowing the agency and farmers to better understand the costs associated with producing organic milk.
- Food Supply Chain Capacity and Resiliency Act: This bill will lower food costs by providing low-interest loans to businesses investing in food supply chain operations.
- The Freight for Farms Act: This bill ensures the USDA Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program includes freight rail infrastructure, so federal funds can be used to increase farmers access to freight rail, which will decrease costs.
- Leveraging Efficiency Awareness for Pumping Systems (LEAPS) Act: This bill makes efficient pump & irrigation systems more accessible to farmers and will support workers at National Pipe & Plastics in Endicott. Specifically it requires the USDA to publish a webpage that offers accessible information on energy efficient pumps and pumping systems as well as information on USDA programming to help fund upgrades. It also requires the USDA to train employees on the benefits of efficient irrigation systems so they can help farmers implement more efficient practices.
