Ep. 107 Inside the Farm Bill with Coty Ferguson
- Transcription
Speaker 1 (00:08):Welcome to AgCredit Said It, your go- to podcast for insights on farm finance and maximizing your return on investment. Join us as we talk to industry leaders, financial experts, and area farmers, bringing you skillful advice and strategies to grow your farm's financial future. AgCredit Said It, where Farm Finance goes beyond the balance sheet.
David White (00:40):Welcome back everyone to another episode of Ag Credit Senate. I'm Dave White, account manager for government relations with the association and guest host for today's podcast. With me, I have Coty Ferguson. He's the director of legislative and government relations for Ag First Farm Credit Bank. Welcome to Ohio Coty, and actually welcome back home.
Coty Ferguson (01:00):Yeah, it's always good to be back home in the Buckeye State. Thanks for having me.
David White (01:02):You're very welcome. What are your responsibilities as Director of Legislative Government Relations for AgFirst, and when did you start in this role?
Coty Ferguson (01:12):So I think we just eclipsed the two month mark. Two year mark. Yeah, about two and a half years I've been in the role now. I came to AgFirst from Congress where I was a staffer, mostly focused on defense policy. Here with the bank, I monitor legislative activity on the hill, look for things that affect farm credit, the broader ag community, and work on strategies to engage lawmakers and their staff with our member associations.
David White (01:51):What did you do prior to joining the bank and what experience best prepared you for this position?
Coty Ferguson (01:58):I did a lot of things before joining the bank for a fairly young person. I've done a lot of living. So most recently, I worked for Congress. I worked for two different congressmen. I joined Congress through a program that was designed to put veterans and congressional offices. They felt military people were underrepresented in the halls of Congress. So they created a program to help folks transition from military service into congressional staff work. So after 20 years in the Army, I went and worked for Congress. I was active duty in the Army and then I switched over to the reserves and later the guard. And so during part of that time, I worked in real estate. I did local political work and presidential campaigns and flew helicopters. A whole lot of things.
David White (02:49):Right. Super. What is AgFirst Farm Credit Bank's role within the Farm Credit System and who does it serve?
Coty Ferguson (02:58):So AgFirst role within the system is to provide funding to the member cooperatives and unique to the Ag First District while there are four banks that are all tasked with providing funding to their member associations. Unique to us is that we provide the resources, technology to support the backend of much of what you do here at the association. So our job is to serve you as good as possible and make sure that you can continue what you do with the producers and the ag credit territory.
David White (03:38):What does the Farm Credit System and its member associations, such as AgCredit, want most from the Farm Bill? And where do things stand right now with the House and Senate on the Farm Bill?
Coty Ferguson (03:48):Farm Bill is supposed to be actioned every five years. We are now in year eight. So I think the most important thing is just to get a Farm Bill done. Beyond that, we have several priorities that we'd like to see included in a Farm Bill. We've made a lot of progress in that and they have made it into what is called the base text of the Farm Bill. For those who are not nerdy political wonks like myself, you draft a bill and what is drafted there is the base text and then later on members can add amendments or changes to the bill and those have to be approved on amendment by amendment basis. So that's a big deal when you can make it into the base text. And we've got a lot of our priorities into the base text. Those have to do with different lending authorities, allowing us to lend on community facilities or as ... We've got a provision that would increase guaranteed loan minimums.
(04:46):We're looking at things like FCA exam cycles and their frequency. So there's a lot that happens in a Farm Bill. It is thousands of pages, and it is the most meaningful piece of legislation that touches the ag industry at a given
David White (05:01):Point. How many titles are there to the Farm Bill? And which two titles is the Farm Credit System, along with Ag Credit and the Bank and the Farm Credit Council, which represents all the associations banks. What are those two titles that they're the most concerned about?
Coty Ferguson (05:16):So there's 12 titles to the Farm Bill. You can think of a title as a chapter of a book, a very, very long book. Primarily, the Farm Credit System is concerned with Title V, which is the credit title. The things that we are advocating for and pushing for here in the Ag First District and here in the ag credit territory are all located within the credit title. But some of the other things that we look at, you say which two, I'd say maybe there's three that are the most important to us. The rural development title is a big deal. We have a mandate to provide and for rural communities. And so there's a lot of stuff that we keep an eye on in the rural development title. And then I think maybe what you were alluding to is probably looking at crop insurance, the crop insurance program.
(06:10):Obviously, we're always monitoring that. Some farm credit associations are much more involved in crop insurance than others, but that is of vital importance to our producers, and we're always keeping an eye on that. And then the thing that we are less active in, but always keeping an eye on and supporting our partner institutions such as Farm Bureau, the commodity groups, is the commodity title on how we're providing support, direct support to farmers.
David White (06:40):Kind of keeping on the same topic here, how much influence does the president have on Congress prioritizing and ultimately passing a farm bill?
Coty Ferguson (06:50):It's an interesting question. I think that depends on which side of the aisle you're on. I think the president has shown with other pieces of legislation to have a lot of influence over the Republican caucus and not so much influence on the other side of the aisle. Anytime you're looking for a major piece of legislation to move in Congress, whether it's a farm bill or any large piece of legislation, it is good to have the support of the president. And happy to say that the president has very vocally supportive of passing a farm bill. If you follow him on social media, you'll know that his messages tend to be kind of long, but when it came to the farm bill, it may be his shortest tweet ever. He just said, "Pass the farm bill." So that is, again, I think he's got a lot of influence within the Republican caucus and that can be very important when there are some members that historically have viewed the farm bill in a different way.
(07:54):So having the president's support is very, very vital there. But everything we do, we work very, very hard to gain broad-based bipartisan support. We're happy to say that everything that we've pushed for specific to farm credit and within the credit title has very broad-based bipartisan support. And we're hopeful that that support is enough to carry a farm bill through both the House and the Senate.
David White (08:22):There may be some of our listeners that are saying, "Hold on, wait on. Wait a minute." I thought this was all taken care of in the big, beautiful bill from a year or two ago. Why are we still talking farm bill when they made the appropriations for the farm bill, or at least part of it, and the big beautiful bill? Or was the big beautiful bill not all that beautiful for farming and agriculture?
Coty Ferguson (08:46):I think the answer to your latter part depends on who you ask. I'll say we talk about the one big beautiful bill that is something called a reconciliation package, and this gets very nerdy in the weeds into politics, but a reconciliation package allows you to bypass some of the vote thresholds needed to move legislation, large pieces of legislation, but with one caveat, they must have a budgetary impact. So anything that does not have a budgetary impact cannot be included in reconciliation stuff. So that's where you see the one big, beautiful bill touched on a lot of things, but it only touched on spending things. So some pieces of the farm bill that do come with a budgetary impact were included. Many things that belong to a farm bill do not have a budgetary impact, such as farm credit. And because they don't have a budgetary impact, they aren't addressed.
(09:44):And so we still need a full farm bill to address those concerns.
David White (09:49):Thanks for explaining that. If the farm bill is not passed by the house, and right now we're recording the week of April 19th, so next week, it's hoped that it will come to the floor of the House for a full vote, but if that bill is not passed by the House, what impact might that have, particularly with the Senate taking up a farm bill later on this year?
Coty Ferguson (10:15):We're getting into all the nerdy weed stuff here. So just a clarification, farm bill is not scheduled to go before the full house next week. It's scheduled to go before the rules committee, which is just a-
David White (10:28):Just a technicality,
Coty Ferguson (10:29):Right? It's a technicality. So it's funny you present it that way. In the past, it would be just sort of a technicality. More recently, we've seen pieces of legislation fail on the rules committee. The rules committee takes a look at legislation and they make final determination for advancing it to the full House for a vote. So something gets worked on in committee, it then gets voted on a committee. So in this case, the House Ag Committee worked on, developed a farm bill. They vote on it. It's got good support. They advance it to the full house, but it's got to make this little stop in the rules committee. And the rules committee gives it a thumbs up. It goes before the full house. There, the WIP will work on whipping up the votes to support it and get it passed. Should that happen, it will be sent to the Senate.
(11:27):The Senate is anxiously awaiting to see what happens in the House. The Republicans have a very, very narrow majority in the House. So the ability to pass a piece of legislation as sizable as the Farm Bill and the House will be a very good indicator of its broad-based national support, and the Senate is far more likely to pass it. If, however, the Farm Bill were to pass very, very narrowly with minimal bipartisan support, that could create some problems in the Senate and make passage less likely. If that happens, the road ahead gets a little more complicated.
David White (12:10):So as a follow-up, if a farm bill is not passed this year, what are the consequences for farmers and the farm credit system? We've been hearing about cost inputs is up. We've got trade getting in the way. We've got a conflict with the Middle East and some other world powers. If we have to, we have to throw this mix all together, what are the possible consequences?
Coty Ferguson (12:39):It's really hard telling. I think unfortunately we're negotiating this in what is a down period in the ag economy. So it's really hard to say. I think the good news for farm credit is that we're very well capitalized. Our farm credit institutions are in very good financial shape. So I think we come through this okay. As you look at the broader ag sector, it gets much more difficult to say what happens if we delay this a whole nother year. I think we have to start looking sector by sector and region by region, but what it does beyond anything else is creates, or shouldn't say creates, we're currently there, adds to the uncertainty and prolongs that. And farmers are no different than any other business. They just want certainty and they're planning. And so by not passing a farm bill, we add to the uncertainty of all those other things you pointed out, such as where are we at in trade, where we at, in conflict, all those things add to uncertainty and anything that we can do to add some certainty or lessen the severity of the uncertainty is good.
(14:03):Passing a farm bill does that.
David White (14:05):We've recently seen more one-time assistance measures such as bridge payments or other financial aid. How does this affect farmers and do they help or hurt prospects for passing a farm bill?
Coty Ferguson (14:15):That's a great question. I don't know that they directly impact the prospect of farm bill passage. What they do is affect timing. So you have to prioritize the floor time, the time that folks get to actually debate these issues and vote on them. You've got to debate and vote on one or the other, and you can't do it at the same time. So it's more of a timing sequence than it is one affecting the prospect of the other, but we have seen an increase because we haven't addressed a lot of our farm programs. So fortunately, some of these issues were addressed in the one big, beautiful bill, but a lot of those financial changes won't take effect until later this year after planning decisions have been made. Passing a farm bill can help mitigate the need for continued ad hoc assistance, although it does not eliminate it.
(15:15):A lot of this is tied to disaster relief as we've seen some pretty severe disasters. I'm down in South Carolina. Hurricane Helene did some inland damage that I don't think anyone's ever expected or seen, and that required my payments. Sometimes we focus on our area and we don't always look at the national picture, so droughts and wildfires out west. We've got some conditions in the middle part of the country that have resulted in a need for these one-time assistance measures. I think while there's no silver bullet, the best thing we can do to prevent the need for one-time assistance payments is pass a farm bill.
David White (16:01):Final question. What can farmers and agricultural stakeholders do help move a farm bill across the finish line?
Coty Ferguson (16:08):I think that the single best thing you can do is contact your lawmaker and let them know how important it is. And when they hear from folks that actually vote for them and live in their district and you tell them what it means, what happens if we continue to kick the can on this, that has a huge impact. It's one thing for myself or for you to do it, but when it comes from their actual constituents, it's a really big deal. When I talk to folks, AgFirst is 15 states in Puerto Rico, I'm just a guy that's advocating just like all the other people that knock on their door, but when it's an actual constituent, it has a much bigger impact. And so when they can reach out and say, "Hey, I'm happy to host you on my farm. I'd love for you to come out and see what's happening here." Seeing is believing.
(17:00):And we all turn on the TV. Congress doesn't seem like a ... They don't seem like they're having a lot of fun right now, so they will have a lot of fun on your farm. They will be the things that you may think that have lost some of the joy because you do them all the time, like riding that piece of equipment or little things like milking a cow. There's a reason we do that at the state fair because people that haven't experienced it, it's really joyous and it's a big deal for them. So if you can get the offer and you're willing to host a member out on your farm, tell them the importance, tell them how essential farm credit has been to your operation, it really moves the needle.
David White (17:42):Coty, thanks so much for your insight and looking out for our members on the Hill. This season, the podcast has been focused on return on investment, ROI. We all know the immediate impact program legislation can have on that farm return. And listeners, thank you for joining us. Tune in next time to Ag Credit Sedat, where farm financials go beyond the balance sheet. We thank you for tuning in for this one and hope you'll join us down the road soon. Thank you very much.
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