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SNAP cost shift remains key hurdle in farm bill negotiations

The president of Minnesota Farmers Union hopes farm bill negotiators can find middle ground on the federal nutrition program.

Gary Wertish says the biggest hangup is the cost shift on SNAP.

“I know the Democrat side of the aisle is wanting a two-year delay on that. And really what that is (it) would allow the states another year to do better with the error rate. And right now with the way it is in Minnesota all that past change in the administrative cost of running the SNAP program is all handled by the counties.”

He tells Brownfield that would put additional strain on rural America.

“The county commissioners are going to have to raise taxes to cover that, so that’s the importance of trying to get that extension just to try to get that in line. Otherwise it will end up being higher property taxes on ag land, and rural Minnesota, the majority of the tax base is agricultural land.”

The Senate Agriculture Committee passed its farm bill out of committee earlier this month, but the full Senate is not expected to vote until after the November elections.  The U.S. House passed a farm bill several months ago.