While lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue to debate several points of a potential 2024 Farm Bill, the general public shows a severe lack of familiarity with the proposed omnibus legislation, according to the June 2024 Consumer Food Insights (CFI) report.
The survey-based report, published by Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability (CFDAS), analyzes such factors as food spending, support of agricultural and food policies, and consumer satisfaction and values.
“Around one-third of American adults have never heard of the bill, while a similar proportion has heard of the bill but do not know what programs it supports,” says Joseph Balagtas, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue and the report’s lead author. “The farm bill encompasses hundreds of millions of dollars and touches every part of the food system.”
New questions in the June survey examined consumers’ attitudes concerning the farm bill. The results revealed both similarities and differences between what consumers say they want to see included in the farm bill and what they value in their own food consumption.
For example, Balagtas says, consumers may hold certain beliefs, like that the climate and the environment are important to address at the policy level. However, their individual purchasing behavior may paint a picture that says their purchasing decisions are guided more by taste and affordability.
Farm subsidies and government spending on food and nutrition assistance – both heavily debated aspects in the political arena – have generally bipartisan support among consumers. Seventy percent of respondents in the CFI report support both farm subsidies (including reduced crop insurance premiums, price support and conservation incentives) and food and nutrition assistance spending such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
“When breaking down the results by self-identified political ideology, we see that support is bipartisan,” Balagtas said. “The majority of liberals, moderates and conservatives are in support of both farm subsidies and federal nutrition assistance.”
The House Committee on Agriculture completed its markup of a new farm bill in May, but progress has waned on the House floor and in the Senate. The current legislation, which was passed in 2018 and received a one-year extension in the fall of 2023, is set to expire at the end of the 2024 fiscal year on Sept. 30. The farm bill has historically enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress, as one might expect based on consumer responses in the CFI surveys. However, members of Congress have expressed serious doubts as to the likelihood of getting a complete bill through both chambers before the current legislation expires, citing a tight legislative calendar, bitter partisanship and the upcoming election as primary reasons.
