A corn harvest (Carey Herndon for the SC Farm Bureau/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — Neal Baxley’s family has been farming for at least seven generations — maybe more. He farms corn, peanuts, soybeans, tobacco and raises cattle, among other things, on 5,500 acres in Marion County.
His grandfather grew up farming behind a mule. Now South Carolina farmers like Baxley trade on global markets. But Baxley, 45, worries future generations won’t be able to eke out a living on the land.
“I’m very concerned about how to keep more generations on the farm, because the margins are very thin,” said Baxley, who’s also director of the Marion County Farm Bureau. “We need farm policy in the United States that looks at sustainability from the farmer’s perspective.”
Every five years, Congress is supposed to approve an aptly dubbed “farm bill” — a massive package of legislation that sets federal food policy. The last one passed in 2018, but when the law came up for renewal last year, Congress extended it by a year rather than pass a new one.
That extension is set to expire Monday, and lawmakers in Washington still have not passed a new bill or extended the current one.
As of Wednesday morning, they remained at an impasse.
“Most Americans may not immediately see the impact of the farm bill because it has helped create a system that keeps food easily available and affordable,” said Emily Frierson, national affairs coordinator for the South Carolina Farm Bureau.
“But without a new farm bill, we will see greater price changes at the grocery store,” she said. “We will see more issues with supply chains.”
Not only could grocery prices — already high on voters’ minds — continue to rise, but staples like eggs and milk could be less available on shelves, Frierson said.
Safety net programs are out of date
The farm bill often grabs headlines for setting federal policy for food assistance, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.
But as the law’s informal name suggests, it also sets United States agricultural policy.
The most impactful parts of the bill for South Carolina crop farmers are safety net programs that help farmers ride out losses. But the support has not kept up with the rising cost of production, according to multiple people interviewed by the SC Daily Gazette.
There are two — the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs.
For qualifying farmers, the programs cover a range of crops, including corn, soybeans, wheat, peanuts and seed cotton. The risk program provides payments for lower-than-anticipated earnings from crop sales. The loss program is supposed to at least partly cover the gap between what farmers can get for their crop at market and the minimum price set by the federal law (called the reference price).
The formula for how much money, if any, farmers receive from the safety net programs is complicated. South Carolina farmers collectively received over $6 million in 2021, according to the latest data published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Under the price loss program, payouts are based on reference prices set by law. Except for one variety of rice, those prices haven’t changed since 2014, as Congress didn’t adjust them for any other crops in 2018, said Nathan Smith, an extension economic and associate professor with Clemson University.
That means prices are way out of whack with the increased cost of production over the last decade, said Smith.
For South Carolina farmers, the biggest need for a new farm bill is to update those bare-minimum crop prices in the loss program, Smith said. Adjustments for the risk program would also help.
But even if a new bill is passed, help won’t be immediate since payouts occur a year after harvest. So, the sooner they approve any adjustments, the quicker that process will start.
“There may be some help coming with the new farm bill, but it still will be a year away,” he said.
Bad weather causes low yields in South Carolina
This year in South Carolina has shown why the federal safety net is so important, said Smith. Nationally, corn and soybean yields are set to outstrip demand. But in South Carolina, crops have been damaged by rough weather.
In the Palmetto State, droughts have been followed by heavy rains brought by Tropical Storm Debby.
Baxley said that his corn got off to a strong start in the spring before hitting two months with no rain. Then between the middle of July and the middle of August, his farm got 22 inches of rain, including a foot from Debby alone.
“So, if you look at the average, we’re a little above average on rainfall — it just all came at the wrong time,” Baxley said. “We lost our corn crop due to drought, and then some of our peanuts, cotton and tobacco we lost due to consistent rainfall.”
About a quarter of his corn crop is irrigated, Baxley said. The yield on the rest of his crop is down between 70% and 80%.
The federal government also subsidizes third-party crop insurance programs, which are distinct from the other two safety net programs. But even then, Baxley said, the insurance does not cover the full cost of a lost crop.
Beyond the safety net
There are other significant programs for South Carolina farmers in the farm bill.
One program authorized in the 2018 reauthorization was a pilot feral hog control plan through the USDA, including assistance in trapping hogs on private land. Feral hogs cause millions in damages each year, and the state has provided funding to the pilot program as well.
The pilot program covered Hampton, Jasper and Newberry counties.
To continue, the pilot program needs to be specifically authorized again in the new law, according to Amy Robertson, a spokesperson for the USDA. That’s something the Farm Bureau says it’s pushing for.
Baxley also praised the conservation programs potentially provided in the updated law, which can help cover farmers’ costs for more expensive methods.
“Farmers are environmentalists too,” he said. “Soil and water are our greatest resources.”
But it is the safety nets and insurance subsidies that can provide some stability to farmers in South Carolina.
“Without a new farm bill, we are facing the prospect of so many of our programs reverting back by decades,” said Frierson with the Farm Bureau.
“Our farmers are certainly saying that if they do not see an increase in reference prices and crop insurance that they will need to strongly consider if they can financially plan for another year.”