What’s the common thread between food producers (you), grocery consumers and me (based on a poll)? Answer: Our impatience is increasing. (This isn’t particularly surprising information, but popular press acted like it was.) I can’t argue its truth, but only add my interpretations. Here’s what my impatient diatribe looks like: 2P, you’re not even going the speed limit. 4L, do you know what a blinker is? 3B, could you set your speed control? 2T, stay in your lane. 1M, quit checking the neighbor’s barley field and drive, man. Bluebird, go back to the mountains where you came from.
(Our county license plate designation system makes it so convenient to vent. Don’t feel singled out if I called out your county; you just happened to be in front of me that day – and if I can manage to blaspheme bluebirds, you have to trust I wouldn’t have hesitated to blaspheme all counties alike.)
Here’s what the impatience of today’s food shoppers looks like: “We’re still cooking at home more than ever before, but our enthusiasm has waned to pre-pandemic levels.” This suggests consumers are looking for ready-to-prep meal solutions to address their inconsistent schedules and tightening budgets. So the collective shopping attitude has turned from “I want healthier, and I want a cooking experience” to “I want it now and make it cheap. And healthy? I guess.”
On the producer side, your impatience looks like that furrow between the eyebrows when your on-the-shelf part for swather repairs is suddenly not on the shelf. It’s the eyebrow furrow that forms when the fuel bill comes. And it’s the anxiety you feel when the crops start showing where you cut back on inputs.
With consumers and producers impatient at the same time, this may be the perfect storm for the five-year cyclical program review of the farm bill. (With nutrition interests, food assistance programs and producers coalesced, it’s like the family that’s related by marriage who doesn’t ever want to go to a family reunion that includes the other party, but they’re pretty much lawfully required to go and even play lawn darts together.)
These farm bill parties also have some blasphemed acronyms (not 2T, 2P and 4L maybe, but SNAP, PLC, CSP and WFRPP). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) takes 76% of the budget, Price Loss Coverage (PLC) Program [and other crop insurances] 9%, Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) 7% and Whole Farm Revenue Protection Program (WFRPP) 7% (with a smattering of other programs).
So with increasing impatience, that farm bill “family reunion” stands to be just as much fun as you might imagine it would be. But whether we’re excited for it or not, if it’s farm bill time, the “family” has to break out the Monopoly money and see who lands on GO. (Just wondering, would we call that family prime time or family fight night? FPT or FFN? I just don’t want to go into it without the appropriate blaspheming tools.)
