FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Jordan Treakle
Coalition Policy and Programs Director
jordan@nffc.net, (202) 543-5675
Downloadable PDF
The Big Bogus Budget Will Widen the Wealth Gap and Harm Family Farmers
WASHINGTON DC, JULY 8, 2025 – The National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) is deeply disappointed by the passage of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” a multi-year budget package (or “reconciliation” bill) that extends tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, all paid for by serious cuts to essential public programs. Besides marking the largest single wealth transfer from working families to the corporate elite in American history, it fails to offer any meaningful support for independent farmers – who face increasing challenges from low prices, trade wars, and the climate crisis – and the communities they feed.
As a coalition of farmers, ranchers, and fishers who advocate for fairness in our food system, we have serious issues with many of the provisions of this package and the uncertainty it leaves over future farm policy discussions. Amidst some of the most challenging times seen by farmers in recent memory, the bill perpetuates a decades-long decline of forward-thinking food and farm policy that has undermined independent agricultural producers to benefit corporate agribusinesses. As food providers who actively work the land and sea, we are disheartened by our U.S. policymakers’ lack of concern for working families made emblematic by this deeply partisan and unpopular legislative package.
One of the most concerning provisions authorizes the largest reduction to food assistance programs in American history, with SNAP stripped of $186 billion in funds through 2034. The new barriers it places on low-income families undermine Americans’ right to food. According to the Urban Institute, over 22 million families are predicted to lose some or all of their SNAP benefits. New work requirements may result in over 2 million Americans losing their benefits entirely. Many SNAP recipients use dollar-matching programs to purchase food from local farmers markets and independent grocers. Cutting SNAP threatens the economic security of farmers who rely on these dollars for a portion of their income. It also diminishes the downstream benefits that all farmers receive from the consumer demand that SNAP dollars generate. This will have a disastrous domino effect on rural communities already reeling from decades of public divestment.
The law also creates special exemptions, extends market-based insurance schemes, and props up commodity programs with increased reference prices, all of which increase the flow of public dollars to the largest, wealthiest farms. And by slashing the budget for the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), the law erases hope for greater oversight of lending practices, thereby increasing farmers’ risk to discriminatory and predatory loans.
This divisive budget has also ruptured the longstanding bipartisan coalition needed to pass a Farm Bill. The dynamic set forth by this most recent reconciliation process could once again severely delay the immediate relief that independent farmers need. Solutions to problems like continuing market volatility, corporate consolidation, and unfair lending practices are all addressed in our policy platform.
In these challenging times, our government should be improving protections for small farmers, not further casting them aside. Instead Congress has passed a budget that delivers $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to corporations and a few wealthy individuals – all at the expense of our most vulnerable communities. We call on our leaders in public office to remember who they serve – the people – not profit, not billionaires.
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Since 1986, the National Family Farm Coalition has been mobilizing family farmers and ranchers to achieve fair prices, vibrant communities, and healthy foods free of corporate domination. Today, NFFC’s 30 member groups span 44 states and represent family farmers, ranchers, and fishermen across the United States.