Rural advocacy groups in Iowa have released their priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill, which is already being discussed in Washington, D.C.

The Center for Rural Affairs has spent months gathering input from Iowa farmers, which the group wants lawmakers to consider. The Center is focusing on improving funding for crop insurance, more investment in conservation programs, and supporting entrepreneurial farmers. Those small farmers may otherwise be hesitant to take chances on progressive farming methods without a financial backstop.

Kayla Bergman, the group's policy manager, said the Center set its priorities by listening.

"The priorities outlined in our platform come directly from farmers, rural leaders and other individuals in rural communities that are directly impacted by USDA programs," Bergman pointed out. "These programs are doing great things for rural communities."

The current Farm Bill, which has a price tag of $428 billion, expires next September. The direction of the new bill will be determined in part by the ultimate makeup of the U.S. House and Senate.

Dan Voss, a corn and soybean farmer near Cedar Rapids, is a proponent of progressive farming methods. He's used no-till farming for more than 30 years and plants cover crops in the winter to reduce soil erosion.

Voss said those methods, and support from Congress in this Farm Bill, are critical for preserving Iowa's farmland for future generations.

"Our land's under a lot of stress," Voss noted. "We've got this climate shift going on. We demand more from the land; we'd like higher yields. Adopting these conservation practices helps enable the land to not only maintain - we can actually end up with land that becomes better over time."

Voss added he and other farmers have had substantial input into what may wind up in next year's Farm Bill. He was one of 5,000 farmers who completed a survey about what he thinks would best serve Iowa's farmers in the new legislation.

Next week, Ohio farmers and their advocates head to Washington, D.C., to push for shifting federal programs toward growing nutritious food, as lawmakers gear up to reauthorize the Farm Bill.

The cost of groceries has increased by 13% over the past year, driven largely by global supply-chain issues and the war in Ukraine.

Angela Huffman, co-founder and vice president of Farm Action, said she believes a strong system of local food suppliers would stabilize Ohio's food economy, and help ensure more families have access to fruits, vegetables, and sustainably raised meat.

"The Farm Bill matters to everybody, because everybody eats," Huffman asserted. "A large part of the reason that we're seeing this skyrocketing inflation -- and frankly, price gouging -- is because a small number of really large corporations are controlling our food system and our government policies."

According to an Urban Institute report, around one in five adults nationwide reported food insecurity in their households in 2020 and again last summer, when historic inflation levels sent food prices soaring.

Huffman added the federal government currently purchases food from major industrial producers. She is hoping the new Farm Bill shifts some buying power to local farmers for schools, hospitals and other community institutions.

"We want to be focused on empowering farmers to do what they do and feed their neighbors, and not just feeding corporate-controlled livestock around the world," Huffman emphasized.

Huffman added farmers are struggling to stay afloat in an era of falling commodity prices and the globalization of agriculture.

"The bulk of the money is going towards feed grains for livestock, which is corn, soybeans, other grains," Huffman outlined. "Farmers are really locked in this system, because that's where the lifeline subsidies are directed towards, and their margins are so slim."

Federal data show in 2019, the nation's small family farm operations held an average of $90,000 in debt.

Maine's small farmers are encouraged to complete the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture census to ensure they have a voice in federal decisions that will shape the future of agriculture.

The census takes place every five years, collecting data that determines farm programs and services, disaster assistance, research, technology development, and more.

Rhiannon Hampson, USDA state director and Knox County dairy farmer, said the best way small farmers can represent themselves is to let the USDA know they exist.

"You know, as small farms we don't have paid representatives for us to federal agencies," said Hampson. "We are our own advocates and this is one of the tools that we can best use to advocate for ourselves."

Hampson said data gathered in the last census helped USDA better support farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic, when wholesale markets were drying up, and farms were losing profits.

The early deadline to complete the census is February 6 and it can be completed through the USDA's ag counts website.

Since 1840, the agriculture census has gathered useful data on Maine's wild blueberry, maple syrup and potato farms as well as their decline.

The last census revealed Maine lost more than 570 farms between 2012 and 2017.

Angie Considine, a New England state statistician with USDA, said the data collected is confidential and that any operation with roughly $1,000 in annual sales should participate.

"It doesn't take that long to fill it out if you are a small farm," said Considine, "because you know you can skip a lot of sections and just fill out the parts that apply to you if you are a small farm."

Considine said without proper data from small farmers, even those that just sell their products at farmers' markets, farm policies could be centered around larger agribusiness operations.

The proposed merger between the Idaho-based grocery chain Albertsons and Kroger has antitrust laws in the spotlight, as the supermarket companies are already the two largest in the country.

Idaho has the third most Albertsons stores in the country, with 39 across the state. Announced in October, the merger has been under intense scrutiny.

Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said the grocery industry is already consolidated, which hurts workers, small businesses and consumers.

"We've seen food production workers and farmers getting paid less for food, and we've seen consumers paying more for groceries," Mitchell observed. "What's happening is that you've got a small number of companies in the middle -- the middlemen, including the supermarket chains -- who are absorbing more and more of that spending for themselves."

Mitchell noted since the announcement of the merger, Congress has enacted what she calls the most significant antitrust legislation in 50 years. The Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act was passed in the government spending package in December. It lowers fees on smaller acquisitions and increases them for the largest mergers, raising more money for Congress to use to fund antitrust enforcement.

Mitchell pointed out consolidation especially is harmful for rural areas, which depend more on small and mid-sized businesses for their economy. She noted the country has seen a sharp decline in businesses of this type.

"Rural areas have been particularly hard hit by that because, if you're a small town, you don't have a corporate headquarters of a giant company, right?" Mitchell explained. "You rely naturally on smaller businesses and those businesses have really been hurt and squeezed by the monopoly problem that we're seeing."

The spending package also included the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act, which makes it easier for state attorneys general litigating antitrust cases to remain in their selected courts.

Mitchell added the changes have support from lawmakers in both parties.

"We've seen this growing momentum in Congress to address antitrust, and it's bipartisan," Mitchell stressed. "That's one of the things that I think is striking in this moment, given the partisan divisions on just about any other issue you can think of."