September 30 is the deadline for approval of the Farm Bill

This September 30 is the extension of the deadline for the approval of the farm bill, and as you know the farm bill is passed by congress once every five years. This legislation covers many areas that impact rural communities, from conservation to rural development, but also the food support program for people with less resources.

This bill should have been passed a year ago, there was a one-year extension of the deadline and again it remains stuck and the current farm bill in place is the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018.

But what is the impact of not having this bill in our communities, let’s hear from Rudy Arredondo, founder and director of Latino Farmers and Ranchers International, Latino Farmers and Rangers International.

He laments that the election process is holding up progress in Congress. In general, the effects of climate change affect and make weather phenomena more extreme as there are more droughts, floods and fires due to climate change.

Rudy Arredondo, highlights what Latino farmers represent in terms of production, income and number of producers.
He says that another factor that currently plagues the countryside is the lack of labor.

And despite these negative effects, the approval of the law is stalled in Congress, because the Republicans do not agree with giving resources to address climate change.

Rudy Arredondo says that the Republican bench intends to cut resources to climate change projects, unfortunately he says that in Congress the proposal of the farm bill 800 billion, 80 percent is dedicated to food programs, the support to producers is only 20 percent and what worries is that because of the climate crisis there may be food shortages.

This report is part of the series “Cuando se seca el Arroyo” supported in part by The Walton Family Foundation.