By Clint Thompson
Alabama Extension’s Ag Outlook meeting last week accomplished its objectives. It provided attendees an outlook on what they can expect across the entire agricultural landscape heading into 2023. It also focused on the upcoming Farm Bill, a key piece of legislation that is renewed every five years.
Adam Rabinowitz, Alabama Extension economist, headed the meeting, which was held on Dec. 15 in Montgomery, Ala. He discussed its importance.
“We covered areas on policy, land, cattle, crops, conservation and even touching into heirs’ property which is not often talked about in agriculture. It’s just important to really take time to reflect on what’s been this past year and what’s to come in the future,” Rabinowitz said. “Agriculture is a tough industry, but there’s a lot of opportunities and optimism. We asked some really good questions here throughout the day that really saw the optimism of our agricultural leaders in Alabama in terms of where production is going to be headed in the future.”
Farm Bill Discussion
A key focus of the day were talks centered on the Farm Bill, which is set to expire Sept. 30. What the next Farm Bill encompasses remains a very expensive question mark.
“There’s some uncertainty. The Farm Bill is expiring in 2023 and there’s a lot of questions. Everyone is jockeying for their position within that Farm Bill. There’s only a finite amount of money that’s available there. The total amount of that bill keeps growing and growing,” Rabinowitz said.
“We’ve got a Farm Bill that will be over $1 trillion just in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) alone, but then you add the agriculture pieces on it, and it’ll certainly be quite a bit more than that. What can be done to try to distill a little bit of this information and what’s relevant to our producers in the state is what we’re trying to accomplish here.”