Last week (February 11th, 2026), CFSA traveled to Washington, DC, to advocate on Capitol Hill and in the halls of the USDA. Joined by David Correll of Rowan County’s Correll Farms, CFSA engaged in meetings with members of the House Agriculture Committee in the morning, and in the afternoon, met with leadership of multiple USDA agencies.
These meetings are critical for advancing CFSA members’ priorities, gathering intel from government staff and raising awareness in DC of issues facing producers in the Carolinas.
At Farm Service Agency’s headquarters, for instance, CFSA stressed the need for timely and equitable disaster relief, as both Carolinas are waiting on FSA to approve the launch of Helene relief programs for farms. Revenue-based relief for future disasters is also critical, and streamlined documentation would allow producers to focus on rebuilding rather than paperwork.
At the Agricultural Marketing Service, we shared stories of producers uprooted by last year’s termination of Local Food Purchase Assistance funding, and the benefits to local and regional systems of restoring the program.
Throughout the day, there were rumors of an imminent release of new Farm Bill language in the House, and sure enough, the rumors were true.
New House Farm Bill Text Released
On Friday, February 13th, 2026, the House Agriculture Committee released its new text of a draft farm bill, dubbed the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026. This bill is similar to the committee’s previous attempt, and reflects a highly partisan process in the wake of last year’s collapse of the bipartisan farm bill coalition.
There are important positives. CFSA has long endorsed policy change to support small, local meat processors by providing plant expansion grants, addressing workforce gaps, and increasing regional capacity. Those efforts have made a difference: the new House farm bill includes many key reforms, and this is a significant step, although the bill fails to provide sufficient funding to back up the policy changes.
The bill also takes steps toward establishing a new iteration of the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, which enabled successful programs like FarmsSHARE. However, no mandatory funds attached to the program means there’s no guarantee it could get off the ground even if the bill passes.
The bill also has important negatives. Nearly $100 million is diverted away from the Conservation Stewardship Program, which compensates agricultural and forest producers who adopt specific conservation practices.
The bill doesn’t provide any meaningful reforms to the farm safety net, ignoring key programs like Whole Farm Revenue Protection and the Noninsured Disaster Assistance (NAP) Program. These programs are the closest thing to crop insurance small-scale, diversified farms have, but still don’t meet the needs of very many of them.
Multiple “poison pills” are also included in the text, including sweeping liability protections for pesticide manufacturers against the injuries their products cause, and the removal of local governments’ authority to regulate pesticides on their own.
The proposal also fails to address the crisis created by massive cuts to SNAP enacted last summer. Farmers’ markets across the Carolinas are popular with SNAP recipients, as many vendors accept SNAP and also participate in SNAP “Double Up Food Bucks”, which allows SNAP recipients to double their SNAP dollars as long as they buy fresh fruits and vegetables.
What’s Next?
A farm bill draft that has some improvements for local food and small farms is a good step, but the overall partisan nature of this proposal doesn’t bode well for Congress’s ability to ultimately pass a good farm bill, or any farm bill, this year. Most Democrats have indicated they won’t support it without a reversal of last summer’s SNAP cuts, and the Senate has yet to put forward its own proposal.
Still, House Agriculture members need to know this bill is not the answer. We need a holistic farm bill that levels the playing field for small and mid-sized growers, more decisively expands opportunities for local food systems, and makes the farm safety net accessible for all.
If you live in North Carolina, call the four N.C. Representatives on the House Agriculture Committee (Davis, Rouzer, Harris and Adams) and encourage them to vote “No” on this new Farm Bill draft.
[Sample script- “Thanks for taking my call. My name is [X] and I’m a District [X] constituent asking you to vote No on this partisan Farm Bill. The bill doesn’t undo the damage from last year’s SNAP cuts, provide sufficient support for small and mid-sized growers, or expand the farm safety net for small farms. We need to restore the bipartisan Farm Bill coalition, and that can only be done by drafting a bill that contains good-faith, bipartisan priorities.”
