800 326 9054Former agricultural leaders are sounding the alarm over perceived congressional inaction as farmers struggle to turn a profit amid global instability, trade tensions and an increasing reliance on ad hoc farm assistance in lieu of a five-year farm bill.
The bipartisan group, Restore American Agriculture, launched an online platform for farmers to voice their concerns about the current farm income crisis in hopes of spurring Congress into action. The veteran ag leaders already sent two letters to Congress that have gone unanswered, former CEO of the National Corn Growers Association Jon Doggett said at a virtual press conference Thursday.
“We sent a letter back in February to the House and Senate Ag committees, saying: ‘Here are nine things we’d like you to address: have some field hearings, do this, do that, talk to farmers, talk to farmers, and we really didn’t get much of a response,’’ Doggett said. “So we sent a letter last month saying: ‘Please pay attention [to] what’s going on. You need to talk to farmers. We are not hearing that you’re talking to farmers, and farmers have a reluctance to do that.’”
Doggett was joined by three other former ag leaders: Pam Johnson, a retired Iowa farmer and former president of the National Corn Growers Association; Bob Dinneen, former president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association; and Dawn R. Riley, a former George W. Bush USDA appointee and former Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., staffer.
“In my view, Congress has abdicated its responsibilities on trade policy. It’s abdicated its responsibilities in terms of spending. It’s abdicated its responsibility on war powers that is now having a demonstrative impact on farmers,” Dinneen said.
Congress on several occasions has failed to enact resolutions to check President Donald Trump’s sweeping trade agenda and war in Iran.
There are a number of bills floating in Congress that would rein in the president’s trade powers, including the Trade Review Act of 2025 introduced by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., that would require Congress to approve or disapprove presidential tariffs. The measure has bipartisan support, with seven Republican co-sponsors and six Democrats. It has yet to see any action.
The war in Iran is placing increased pressure on farmers already struggling with high input costs. The intermittent closure and opening of the Strait of Hormuz has caused fertilizer costs to skyrocket because of disrupted shipments.
“The war has made so much uncertainty for us as farmers. When we are concerned about input availability and prices, we think about why is this? It’s the war. So my voice to Congress is like, ‘Let’s be accountable. Let’s look at the consequences of the war,’” Johnson said.
Congress hasn’t passed legislation to lower fertilizer costs, although it is considering sending $12 billion in aid to farmers as part of a budget reconciliation bill. However, farm country is increasingly growing tired of ad hoc assistance rather than policies that provide long-term solutions, the leaders said.
Fuel costs, also on the rise because of the war, are another concern.
Dinneen said that the inability to secure year-round E15 is the “poster child for Congress’ inability to get anything meaningful done.”
The Senate farm bill includes a provision that would allow for the sale of year-round E15, but that is absent from the House version. If the Senate is able to pass the farm bill, the chambers will have to determine the future of E15 in conference.
“Congress needs to get their act together, get a meaningful farm bill done, put some guardrails on trade policy. They need to show some courage, show some initiative, do their jobs,” Dinneen said.
The group appears to disapprove of the farm bill that is working its way through the Senate.
“No, I don’t think that the legislation currently being under consideration is the meaningful response,” Doggett said when asked if the Senate farm bill would do enough for farmers.
The Senate Agriculture Committee failed to secure the votes to advance the farm bill to the floor earlier this month. The panel is expected to vote again on the bill after the August recess, but without Democratic support, passage is unlikely if McConnell remains absent.
“We have a bill that doesn’t seem to have bipartisan support and doesn’t seem to have had a lot of input from farmers across the country,” Doggett said. He pointed to the fact that a portion of the farm bill was done through the July 4, 2025, reconciliation package, or the One Big Beautiful Bill, which was “done in a very partisan fashion,” he said.
The bill made changes to the food stamp program, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Among the most controversial changes to SNAP was the establishment of a first-of-its kind cost-share program that requires states with high error rates to pay a portion of SNAP benefits.
“Democrats said early on, if you cut SNAP funds, we are going to have a great reluctance to vote for a farm bill. They’ve been saying it over and over again, and I think we’re seeing that now,” Doggett said.
The Senate farm bill would delay the implementation of the SNAP cost share from FY 2028 to FY 2029, but the proposal came with a trade-off that Democrats couldn’t back, effectively stalling the measure in committee.
The group urged farmers to call their representatives to push for action. They said they have no intention of replacing trade groups, but said those groups are reluctant to speak out because they don’t want to draw the administration’s ire.
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