Moore: Farmers Will Need Substantial Help In New COVID-19 Aid Package

Agriculture is making a big funding request to Congress in an expected final COVID-19 stimulus bill. But what can farmers expect when many in D.C. and on Main Street are calling for restraint?

While it’s likely the last major legislation before the election, Senate Republicans don’t appear to be interested in the kind of multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus-stimulus bills favored by House Democrats. The American Farm Bureau Federation is asking for a hefty $68 billion in the bill that could start to take shape next week. AFBF Executive Director Dale Moore said agriculture has a strong case.

“We’ve got a number of men and women across the country, families, that simply do not have access to the food that they need, or certainly, in the quantities that they need, or they can’t afford it, because they’re out of work.” 

Moore said the politics of food is feeding the nation. And that means sustaining farmers. He added billions in commodities were already lost from shuttered processing plants and broken supply chains.

“We’ve got to closely examine the supply chain and figure out, how do we make sure, give all the ability that we have to produce food, that something like COVID-19, or a pandemic situation like we’re in, does not cause this kind of disruption in the future.”

Moore added the Farm Bureau doesn’t have the answer yet, but one is needed. Without it, he said, no amount of money spent for agriculture in a likely final COVID-19 bill will solve the pandemic food supply problem permanently.

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