National Farmers Union President Talks Farm Bill Fatigue With Iowa Farmers [Video]

By Cami Koons

AMES — National Farmers Union President Rob Larew spoke about the stalled reauthorization of the Farm Bill and strategies to promote agriculture and conservation within the upcoming administration Saturday at the Iowa Farmers Union annual conference. 

“I am so tired of talking about this farm bill,” Larew said with a laugh to a full conference room at the Quality Inn in Ames. 

The Farm Bill is a bipartisan package of legislation, typically reauthorized every five years, regulating and funding food and farm programs from the U.S. Department of Agriculture conservation initiatives to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The 2018 Farm Bill, however, was extended in 2023, expired in fall 2024 and awaits an unknown fate in the rapidly approaching close to the congressional lame-duck session.

Larew said coming into 2023, the attitude with the Farm Bill was to take what happened in the pandemic and craft better provisions to protect …