Thanedar Worried About SNAP Cuts, Talks Priorities for ‘Skinny’ Farm Bill

The reconciliation bill Congress passed this month cuts nutrition program spending by an estimated $186 billion over 10 years. Agri-Pulse spoke with Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., an ag committee Democrat who represents the Detroit metropolitan area.

After the cuts to SNAP, “I don’t think it’s going to be smooth sailing for what you call the skinny farm bill,” Thanedar said.

Then, Tara Smith with Torrey Advisory Group discusses when producers can see the boost to commodity and crop insurance programs included in reconciliation, and Arlan Suderman at StoneX discusses the extension of the country-specific reciprocal tariff deadline.

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Please note: This transcript has not been edited.

Andrew Huneke: Welcome to Agri-Pulse Newsmakers, where we aim to take you to the heart of Ag policy. I’m your host, Andrew Huneke. Our guest this week is Michigan Congressman and House AG committee member Shri Thanedar, who joins us to talk about the upcoming Farm Bill, cuts to SNAP benefits in the Reconciliation Bill, and downsizing in USDA. But first here, this week’s headlines.

The Supreme Court gave the Trump administration the green light to proceed with reorganizations at federal agencies, including the agriculture department. The court stayed in injunction, halting reorganizations, and reductions in force issued by a federal judge in California. However, the Supreme Court ruled they were lifting that injunction because, quote, “The government is likely to succeed on its argument that the executive order and memorandum are lawful.” The decision impacts 21 agencies, including the agriculture department Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins said last month, the department’s reorganization plan won’t be as drastic as many have feared.

Producers who suffered losses in natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 can now begin applying for disaster aid payments through the supplemental disaster relief program. The program will be administered in two stages.

Producers can apply for the first stage now if they had eligible crop losses because of hurricanes, wildfires, and other weather events that received assistance under crop insurance or the Non-Insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.

The second stage will start in the fall for producers with eligible shallow or uncovered losses. This was made possible because of the spending bill Congress passed at the end of last year, which included a hundred billion dollars worth of disaster assistance, including 21 billion, specifically for agricultural losses from hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, or other weather events.

President Trump has signed an executive order, extending the higher country-specific reciprocal tariff deadline.

More than 60 countries now have until August 1st before higher tariffs go into effect. Some countries have seen some significant reduction in rate, but for many, the new rates are broadly in line with what was announced at the beginning of April when the president unveiled his reciprocal tariff plan.

And finally, now that the Reconciliation Bill has passed, House Ag Chairman GT Thompson wants to have a complete Farm Bill done this fall. Thompson said the bill would need about 8 billion in additional funding over 10 years, which is less than the $66 billion increase in spending included in the Reconciliation Bill and paid four out of cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Some issues that still need to be addressed include lawsuits against pesticide manufacturers, reauthorization of the Conservation Reserve Program, limits for USDA direct and guaranteed loans, rural broadband assistance, and a provision to trigger permanent price support laws if existing commodity programs are allowed to run out after 2031. 

Congressman Shri Thanedar is a member of the House Ag Committee. We asked him how the spending cuts to the SNAP program will affect his constituents and farmers across the country.

Shri Thanedar: Well, it’s going to affect 40 some million people from the healthcare point of view, about 2 million people would lose SNAP benefits. Look, my district, I represent Detroit and Metro Detroit areas and the neighborhood. My district, 29% of the people depend on SNAP benefits. So fourth poorest district in the country, so many people are going to suffer. People depend on good, nutritional food that is essential for people. It is just going to be a disaster. Many states, including Michigan, does not have the funds needed to supplement SNAP programs. This bill requires $65 billion worth of subsidiary from the states. And that’s going to be very difficult to do because many states don’t have the extra cash lying around. So in the end, what’s gonna happen is that the states will have to make hard choices and many people are gonna lose food benefits. And this is unfortunate for a country like ours, the richest country in the world to be able to not be able to feed the hungry, not be able to feed the children, not be able to feed the seniors, the disabled, the veterans. So I’m really heartbroken.

Andrew Huneke: I’d like to pivot to the Farm Bill, House Ag Chairman Thompson dismissed concerns earlier this week that some of you and your democratic colleagues wouldn’t support a new Farm Bill because they made those cuts to SNAP to increase spending on farm programs in the Reconciliation Bill. Are you concerned that there’s not enough bipartisanship in Congress right now to get a farm bill passed by the fall?

Shri Thanedar: Well, in the light of this cuts in SNAP, we lost some trust. The Farm Bill depended on a bipartisan coalition and that coalition depended on nutritional program. That was what helped us be on board on the Farm Bill and cutting nutritional program so mercilessly, cutting nutritional programs in a cruel way to take food away from the hungry that doesn’t put us in the right frame of mind to work on a bipartisan way to get this Farm Bill done. So I don’t think it’s gonna be a smooth sailing for the, what you call the Skinny Farm Bill. 

Andrew Huneke: House Ag Committee Chairman GT Thompson wants a complete Farm Bill done by the fall. We asked Congressman Shri Thanedar about his Farm Bill priorities.

Shri Thanedar: The particular thing that I want to address is not only restoring some of the losses in the nutritional program, but also, rural farmers are hurting. The SNAP program not only takes food away from the hungry, but it really destroys that supply chain. It hurts the manufacturers, it hurts the packagers, it hurts the small businesses that sell these food ingredients, food products. Every dollar that we invest in the SNAP program, it impacts about $1.50 to the whole economy. So, we are going to make it harder for the farmers who sell nearly $2 billion worth of products because of SNAP. So, it’s not just the poor people that are gonna get hurt. It’s the manufacturers, packagers, truckers, small businesses, farmers. This is going to impact all of these sectors.

Andrew Huneke: And I would like to pivot to USDA, the department now no longer planning to recognize African Americans, Hispanics, women, and Native Americans as socially disadvantaged and deserving of those increased benefits. Just what are your thoughts on that?

Shri Thanedar: Well, look, historically, these are groups that have suffered, suffered due to discrimination, suffered due to racism. And to not recognize that and not allow them to use those disadvantaged paths to be able to get access to the nutritional program is a real disservice to Americans.

Andrew Huneke: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins as well. She’s been on the job now for about a half a year. What are your thoughts of her performance so far, leading the department?

Shri Thanedar: Well, the cuts in the SNAP program, not hurting our farmers, hurting our rural communities, hurting our small businesses, this is not a great start. And I think we need to bring compassion back into our agriculture department. And I hope the secretary can focus on compassion, giving the helping hand families need as they recover, as they become more self-sufficient, as they become independent of the government help. But this critical help as they get on their own feet and they go support their families through good-paying jobs, all of this to happen, they need a little bit of a helping hand. And taking this critical help away from the poor, the hungry, the seniors, the veterans is a real disservice. And I hope the secretary addresses this and looks at it from a humanitarian, from a compassionate point of view. 

Andrew Huneke: I’d like to wrap up on the trade front, the president extending that country-specific reciprocal tariff deadline now to August 1st. The threat of trade wars, though, still has farmers across the country worried. Should they be, and what are you hearing from producers in your district?

Shri Thanedar: Well, the producers, the farmers, they depend on supplies from abroad. Now, these supplies are going to be unaffordable. They’re gonna be much more expensive. The trade policies, the uncertainty, on again, off again, unstable trade policies of Trump administration is hurting the farmers. That is cutting off their access to supplies and they’re making supplies much more difficult and much more expensive. And this is going to, this unstable trade policies are going to hurt our farmers.

Andrew Huneke: Congressman Shri Thanedar, thank you so much for joining us, sir.

Shri Thanedar: Thank you for having me.

Andrew Huneke: Allie Herring looks at the farm program spending breakdown in the GOP megabill passed last week in this week’s “Ag By the Numbers”.

Allie Herring: The GOP Reconciliation megabill President Trump signed last Friday includes more than $65 billion in new farm program funding for the 2025 to 2034 fiscal years. Most of this new funding goes into commodity programs, with over $53 billion being funneled into Title I programs. This is followed by a $6 billion infusion for crop insurance and nearly $3 billion in disaster assistance. Producers can now expect increased payments through the price loss coverage and agricultural risk coverage programs, as well as lowered crop insurance premiums. The bill also puts $2.2 billion into trade promotion initiatives and $1.6 billion in agricultural research. The farm program funding increase is offset by about $186 billion in cuts to the nutrition title of the Farm Bill over the next 10 years, the largest cut to the SNAP program in history. For Agri-Pulse, I’m Allie Herring.

Andrew Huneke: This week’s panel is going to focus on everything that’s going on on the trade and tariff front, as well as reconciliation and the future of the farm bill. Joined today by Arlan Suderman with StoneX and Tara Smith with the Torrey Advisory Group. Thank you both for joining me. And Tara, I wanna start with you first. Let’s talk about the regional impacts of the reconciliation bill, enhancements to commodity and crop insurance programs. When will producers start seeing the lower premium subsidies and higher payments from commodity programs in your opinion?

Tara Smith: Yeah, I think that really, next year, you’re gonna see some of the significant benefits that were included in the reconciliation package really kick in. I think you’re gonna see it in the pricing on crop insurance, but I think, you know, even this year, on the commodity title, you may see some of those benefits reflected. Of course, a lotta times, farmers won’t get payments from this crop year until much, much later. And so the payments will be delayed, but the benefits will be for this crop year. And you know, there are always regional divides in any farm bill, but I think pretty much everyone from any region can look at this reconciliation package and say, “Hey, we got some really impressive things out of this bill that are gonna be really helpful for us in this farm economy.”

Andrew Huneke: And Arlan, I wanna pivot to trade and tariffs. The president extending that country-specific reciprocal tariff deadline now until August 1st. What are your initial thoughts about that and the proposed rates that are going to go into effect at that time?

Arlan Suderman: Well, the delay ’til August 1st really comes from Secretary Bessent convincing President Trump that we’re close to some agreements. And so if we have a little bit more time, we should be able to get some agreements. That would include agreements with Europe, with India, possibly with Japan and others. And so that’s encouraging from my standpoint. And I think it’s more of a pragmatic approach that Secretary Bessent was calling for. And I think the markets have taken some courage from that, and hopefully that will result in some agreements that really open some doors. The agreement we have with Vietnam, I think, was a good pattern to follow there on opening the door to commodity movement to that country. I think there’s a lot of opportunity there. Hopefully we’ll see more of those types of agreements.

Andrew Huneke: And we spoke with economist Dan Bosse on our show last week with Ag Resource Company, and he was concerned about how long it’s taking the US and China to come to a deal. Do you share those same concerns that he does?

Arlan Suderman: Well, I certainly share the concern, and I think, during the month of July now, it’s gonna become more of a market factor. Because July is the month when China typically really ramps up its purchases of US soybeans for fall delivery. And right now, it essentially has zero soybeans on the books. And its carryover is estimated at about twice, the surplus stocks estimated about twice what it bought from us over this past year. So it could just cut us off if it chose to do so. And so that does raise some concerns for the market. But it doesn’t surprise me at all. Because right now, President Xi Jinping has tremendous popularity in China, where they control the message. They’ve been telling the people, “It’s the United States that’s been using unfair trade practices and been the bully in the world.” And Xi Jinping is the only world leader willing to stand up to the bully. And so he’s seen as very popular, and the people are willing to sacrifice for the so-called righteous cause. And so he’s going to, I think, hold out, even though it is hurting his economy. I think he’s gonna hold out on any big deal. I think there will be periodic small deals, like what we saw with the rare earth minerals and magnets. But any big deal probably is gonna take quite some time. He’s gonna try to outwait Trump here on this.

Andrew Huneke: The threat of tariffs has led to a lot of uncertainty in farm country. The president has not been able to secure as many trade deals that both he and farmers would’ve hoped for by now. We asked Arlan Suderman if farmers should still be worried about possible trade wars in the future.

Arlan Suderman: Well, absolutely should be concerned, but keep in mind that each administration typically touts one big trade deal they did, on average, it took 18 months to accomplish that trade deal, and here we’re trying to do 18 of them in 90 days. And again, these aren’t actual in-depth trade deals like what we’ve seen in the past because the president’s lost fast-track authority, President Biden didn’t ask for it to be extended, so that would mean taking any formal trade deal past Congress, and we know what the ability to get a bill through Congress right now in the current environment is. So that means President Trump puts high tariffs on a country, trying to get them to lower their tariffs in non-tariff restrictions. They agree, he lowers his tariffs, that’s essentially a trade agreement, but it’s not necessarily one it has to go through Congress, but that also means it’s only effective while he’s in office, unless the next president is willing to use the same power, so to speak, of the office in order to keep that agreement enforced.

Andrew Huneke: Pivoting back to reconciliation, Tara, you know, you spent a lot of time working on and analyzing prior farm bills in the past. How does this additional funding in the reconciliation bill compare to previous farm bills?

Tara Smith: I mean, it’s really different. This is big cuts obviously to the nutrition programs, which is something we haven’t really seen. Big investments in the commodity side of things, the farm side of things, which is also something, by the way, we really haven’t seen in several farm bill cycles. In fact, you know, you look back at the 14 Bill and we saw significant cuts to the commodity and crop insurance programs. And so, a very different environment than what we’ve seen in the past. But it’s also interesting to do these things in reconciliation because you’re so limited in what you can do. You can’t do all of the policy pieces that aren’t attached to money, that are quite frankly a really big part of what we do in farm bills.

Andrew Huneke: I want to mention more of that partisanship that we’ve seen on Capitol Hill recently. You know, House Ag Chair Thompson, he doesn’t really seem concerned that Democrats won’t support a new farm bill after Republicans took money from SNAP to increase spending on farm programs in the reconciliation bill. How do you think this partisanship is going to affect future farm bills?

Tara Smith: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, to be determined whether Democrats come to the table on a farm bill 2.0, or a skinny farm bill, or a mini farm bill, or whatever you’d like to call it. I think we’re just going to have to wait and see. I think that there’s a lot of good policy that got left on the cutting room floor because of reconciliation rules, and I think that some of those policy items are going to be really of interest to Democrats and to Republicans. So I think we’re hopeful that that’s something they can land on. In terms of how this impacts farm bills moving forward, I know there’s a lot of doom and gloom that this process, this reconciliation process, is going to be the end of any farm bill in the future. And I think it’s just really important to remember that reconciliation doesn’t happen every year. Reconciliation doesn’t happen every year we do a farm bill. In fact, we wouldn’t be doing a farm bill and a reconciliation package this year if we hadn’t had delays in getting the farm bill done when it was supposed to be done. And so, every farm bill has its own personality, and I think I’m still hopeful that five years from now when we go to do another full farm bill that will be in a very different environment, we’ll have very different set of rules around how we’re playing the game and we’ll be able to get back to some semblance of normality, if you will, around writing a farm bill.

Andrew Huneke: Allie Herring looks at which states have the potential to add the most base acres to commodity program-covered crops in this week’s Map It Out.

Allie Herring: Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill means farmers of commodity program-covered crops, such as corn, soybeans, seed cotton, and more, are now eligible to update their base acres according to more recent growing patterns. This voluntary base upgrade means farmers across the country would receive updated commodity program payments in line with new base acres on their land, if eligible. The bill allows for 30 million new base acres to be added, an 11% increase in base acres to the program. As shown here on this map, states such as Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin, each have the potential to add between 600,000 and 800,000 base acres to the program. Texas, a state with a large amount of unassigned cotton base acres, has the potential to add 1 million base acres to the program. Experts have warned that the potential number of base acres eligible to be added exceeds the 30 million-acre cap. So it remains to be seen how these new base acres are distributed across the country. For Agri-Pulse, I’m Allie Herring.

Andrew Huneke: Thanks for joining us for another episode of “Agri-Pulse Newsmakers.” Next week, both the House and Senate will be in session. The Senate Ag Committee will hold hearings Tuesday about stakeholder perspectives on federal oversight of digital commodities. A House Ag subcommittee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the importance of credit and risk management for farm operations. And finally, the next Consumer Price Index will be released Tuesday. Tune in next week and check out our website anytime for the latest developments on all things food, farm and fuel policy. For “Agri-Pulse,” I’m Andrew Huneke, thanks for watching.

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