Once again, head of Wisconsin Farmers Union wants a new farm bill. Will there be one? 

Darin Von Ruden, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, wants a new federal farm bill to help farmers stay in business and make profits. But mostly, he wants there to actually be another farm bill. 

“Our main thing is just, let’s see a farm bill this year,” Von Ruden told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”

The farm bill is a massive piece of legislation that covers five years of funding for agriculture and social programs, most notably the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program commonly known as SNAP, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. 

Von Ruden shared similar concerns with WPR last year when lawmakers failed to write a new farm bill, instead extending the deadline to 2024. Now, they’re pretty much in  the same situation. 

Wisconsin has seen a drastic decline in its number of farms, particularly dairy farms. Von Ruden pointed to the Dairy Revitalization Plan his union has pushed for as a way to stabilize prices and keep small farms in business. 

The Wisconsin Farmers Union wants to “make sure that we’re staying at that family value type of farming and not getting into the corporate farming that we’re currently seeing,” Von Ruden said. 

Von Ruden said he also hopes to see more dollars put into conservation programs because conservation funding offered through the Inflation Reduction Act might not be able to keep up with demand.

The deadline to pass a new farm bill is at the end of September. Reports are suggesting it’s unlikely lawmakers will pass a new bill rather than extending the deadline for the second year in a row.

This concerns Von Ruden. He said with “extension after extension,” farmers are becoming weary of the political process.

“Every time that we don’t have a farm bill in place, there’s always that possibility that funds can be cut,” he said. “It’s going to hurt local rural communities because those dollars won’t be there for … farmers to be able to stay in business.”