Last fall, US lawmakers delayed the passage of the farm bill, a national piece of legislation designed to support farmers, wildlife preservation and nutritional programs.

With a new administration in office.

The Kentucky Farm Bureau is pushing to support the passage of a new modern farm bill, along with funding for several programs to support Kentucky farmers.

The expenses on our farms just seem to keep increasing, and increasing labor costs go up.

You know, at times fuel prices go up.

So there's a lot of challenges that we face.

The farm bill encompasses more than just farm programs, you know.

I think this farm bill is going to probably the first time that it will try.

It'll top $1.5 trillion over a ten year period.

That's a that's a big number.

But 82% of those funds don't go to agriculture.

82% of those funds go to the programs like the SNAP program and the work program.

So all of those are important to us because we do produce food.

So we want to take care of those things, too.

But out of all that program, less than that 18% is what comes to all those programs for farmers that are out there for crop insurance and the things that we have, we'd like to see reference prices update to meet the current situation that we have.

You know, we went through a period of some very good years.

Our expenses increased that, but crop values were a little bit better and now we've.

Those are the crop prices have come down, the market has come down some and those expenses haven't come down quite as fast as the market has.

But far from the ag side of it, the insureds, the the commodity insurance that's provided for our commodities that we raise is in the farm bill.

That's very important to us, like all the livestock.

And for me as a cow calf producer for a background feeder, you know, right now if you buy 100 head of cattle, it's going to cost you about 150000 to $200000 to buy just just about a hundred head.

So there's a lot of risk there.

So this livestock risk protection that is offered through the farm bill, that's very important to us as livestock producers.

And there's other, you know, insurance for all the other commodities are soybeans, corn growers, tobacco, everything like that.

So it's extremely important.

In the last census of Agriculture that came out, we lost 6500 farmers and the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and we lost over 500,000 acres of farmland.

That's just not sustainable.

The average sized farm in the state of Kentucky is 179 acres.

So we're losing almost one and a half farms every day here in Kentucky.

And that's just not sustainable.

Our number one priority is the farmland transition initiative that we're working on and trying to see if we can get some legislation on the federal level to where we can try to protect this farmland and stop the loss of it and keeping it in active farmer's hands.

You know, if a farmer owns that land, once he gets it paid for, he's more profitable.

And I think is what we want to get young people into agriculture.

I think we have to find a way to get them to be more profitable.

I'm blessed.

I have three children and my oldest son has taken an interest in the farm.

He's 24 and he's farming full time with me on the floor.

I'll be able to pass on my farming operation.

It'll stay in agriculture, which, you know, I got friends and neighbors, that farm and in love, farming and love agriculture just like I do and love the land and have worked their whole life to take care of that land and leave it better than the way they found it.

And they want to see it stay in agriculture.

They don't want to see houses or development coming up.

So, you know, with this Kentucky Farmland Transition initiative that we're working on through Farm Bureau, our idea is as a way to try to get that farm at farm land into an act of farmer's hands, whether it be a young farmer or an active farmer, but some way to see it stay in agriculture with less, leave the family.

Some of Kentucky farm grows.

Other priorities for 2025 include supporting international trade and increasing role development for Kentucky's farmers.