Wisconsin Farmers Calling for Congress to Provide Adequate Funding for Federal Farm Programs

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026 -- 12:00 PM

(Hope Kirwan, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin farmers are joining a nationwide call for Congress to provide adequate funding and staff for federal farm programs.

According to Hope Kirwan with the Wisconsin Public Radio, the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, Wisconsin Corn Growers Association and three other state organizations signed on to a letter urging congressional leaders to pass what policymakers are calling the “Farm Bill 2.0.”

It’s been more than seven years since Congress passed a new farm bill, a package of legislation that covers a wide variety of farm-related programs including crop insurance and conservation programs as well as food assistance for low-income families.

Farm bill programs are typically updated every five years, but Congress failed to pass a new package in 2023 and 2024. Last year, Republicans used the One Big Beautiful Bill to fund several core agriculture programs such as crop insurance while making cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

In the letter sent to House leaders on Friday, farmer groups urged lawmakers to address the remaining programs through legislation passed in March by the House Agriculture Committee.

The groups said the “complete suite of programs” in the farm bill are “essential to ensuring the resilience, productivity and global competitiveness” of the country’s ag industry.

Wisconsin Farm Bureau president Brad Olson said getting a new farm bill in place would provide much-needed security during a time when farmers continue to face high operating costs and uncertain markets.

“It isn’t going to necessarily change prices,” Olson said. “But the stability of those programs, knowing what you can and cannot apply for, the stability of your day-to-day work on the farm, is what agriculture is looking for.”

Olson said he is in favor of keeping all farm bill initiatives together instead of splitting apart provisions like lawmakers did in the reconciliation bill. And just like in previous decades, Olson said lawmakers will need to be willing to compromise to get the new farm bill across the finish line.

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