The Center for Rural Affairs has released its 2018 farm bill policy platform.

Written by Anna Johnson, policy associate, and Rural Policy Program staff, the platform reflects more than 40 years of on-the-ground work by Center staff, and input from farmers and ranchers across the country.

“We need a farm bill which helps rural America,” Johnson said. “While a great deal of this work is done on the ground and in communities, the overarching influence of the farm bill on every facet of this work cannot be ignored.” 

The platform focuses on:

“The Center’s farm bill priorities continue our decades-long work of addressing the real needs of rural communities,” said Johnson. “These proposals will support family farms. They will preserve natural resources for our children and grandchildren. They will create opportunity for the next generation of beginning farmers. They will foster rural economic opportunity. Congress has a responsibility to serve rural citizens through the farm bill, and these proposals offer a path for them to do so.”

The current farm bill expires on Sept. 30, 2018. 

To download the platform, visit http://www.cfra.org/publications/2018FarmBillPlatform.

Other farm bill priorities:

Heritage Foundation outlines their farm bill priorities in "Farms and Free Enterprise: A Blueprint for Agricultural Policy." 

Independent Community Bankers, American Farm Bureau outline farm bill priorities.

Farm bill 2018 is an opportunity to make conservation improvements.

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has released its comprehensive 2018 Farm Bill policy platform, An Agenda for the 2018 Farm Bill.

American Water Works Association talks about water priorities for the 2018 farm bill.

Source: Center for Rural Affairs