The Farm Bill: Why It Matters to the Wine Industry (WineAmerica)

The Farm Bill is essential to viticulture in America and is always
a big ticket agenda item for WineAmerica.

By Michael Kaiser

Wine is a value-added agricultural product. It is taken from a raw product (grapes) and made into a different product that “adds value” to the cost of the raw product. The Farm Bill is essential to viticulture in America and is always a big ticket agenda item for WineAmerica. While not a terribly exciting issue, it does help the wine and grape industry quite a bit. The Farm Bill was supposed to be passed in 2023 but, due to legislative gridlock, that was not possible. In early Fall 2023, a one-year extension of the previous Farm Bill was passed; it’s set to expire September 30, 2024.

House Finally Releases Language

In mid May of this year, the House Agriculture Committee, led by Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-PA) finally unveiled a draft of the Farm Bill after a full year of delay. Following that release, the House Agriculture Committee held a lengthy mark-up of the bill. The nearly 1,000-page bill passed out of committee by a vote of  33 to 21, with four Democrats joining all of the Agriculture Committee’s Republicans in voting for the bill. The bill authorizes virtually every program the USDA has, from specialty crops to nutrition assistance. 

There are a few provisions of great importance to the wine and grape industries, and WineAmerica is pleased to see increases in funding for them. Some highlights include:

• Doubles the funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development Program (FMD). The funding for the MAP program had been stalled at $200 million for many years and would increase to $400 million. The MAP program has been very helpful for certain states in marketing their wine overseas, most notably California, Oregon, Washington and New York;
• Increases the mandatory funding level for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative to $175 million per year, a $95 million increase per year from the 2018 Farm Bill. (Wine grapes are a speciality crop, which is defined as “plants cultivated or managed and used by people for food, medicinal purposes, and/or aesthetic gratification”);
• Provides $20 million per year from the Specialty Crop Research Initiative to fund a new Specialty Crop Mechanization and Automation Research and Extension Program. Mechanized and automated farming could be used by vineyards, which could help with ongoing labor issues; 
• Increases the mandatory funding level for the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program to $100 million per year, a $15 million increase per year from the 2018 Farm Bill. Because wine grapes are specialty crops, state departments of agriculture can apply for grants (on behalf of their wine industries) to fund promotion programs, research and other initiatives; 
• Increases the mandatory funding level for the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program to $90 million per year, a $15 million increase per year from the 2018 Farm Bill. This program is important to viticulture because it’s how the USDA works to combat things like Pierce’s Disease and the Spotted Lanternfly; and
• Continues the mandatory funding for the Local Agriculture Market Program — which includes the Value-Added Producer Grant Program, Farmers’ Market and Local Food Promotion Program, and the Regional Food System Partnerships Program —  at $50. Because wine is a value-added commodity, individual wineries can apply for these grants as long as they match the grant funds. A winery needs to own vineyard land to qualify and must also show it’s doing something worthy of the grant.

While this is a very good Farm Bill for the issues that affect the wine industry, there are some sticky political issues that will make final passage difficult. The House Agriculture Committee was able to get a bipartisan vote to get the bill out of committee, but it was still a Republican-dominated vote. There are many provisions in the bill that appeal to both parties, but the House version of the Farm Bill cuts funding to nutrition and climate change programs that are non-starters with House Democrats. Now that the bill has passed out of the House Agriculture Committee, it is ready to be brought to the House floor. Chairman Thompson would like full House passage by the end of July.

Senate Version

The same week the House Agriculture Committee released its Farm Bill language, the Senate Agriculture Committee also released a framework for its version of the bill. Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) made it clear that she does not support the House version of the bill due to cuts to programs such as food assistance and climate programs. Stabenow has been adamant that she does want to get a bill done before she leaves the Senate this year, but that she is at a stalemate with her House counterparts. 

Meanwhile, the Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee have introduced their own Farm Bill framework, which is very much in line with the version that the House Agriculture Committee passed last month. There is no immediate time frame for any version of the Farm Bill to be taken up by the Senate Agriculture Committee. 

What’s Next? 

Clearly, the Farm Bill is a bit of a mess. It is a victim of partisan squabbles and the simple fact that it’s nearly impossible to pass any piece of legislation — even must-pass bills. It’s certainly not unprecedented to have an extension of the Farm Bill (the last one had an extension as well) but that usually came with a comprehensive plan to pass the new bill. Right now, that’s not in place.

We are looking at a scenario where there will need to be another extension of the current bill. Just how long that extension will need to be is unclear. It could be for another fiscal year (through September 30, 2025), or it could be until just before the end of the calendar year and pushed through during the lame duck session of Congress. Right now, we are playing the waiting game, and that is not good for American wine — or American agriculture as a whole. 

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Michael Kaiser

Michael Kaiser is executive vice president and director of government affairs at WineAmerica, which represents wineries and associations from more than 40 states. For more information about WineAmerica and how to get involved, visit www.wineamerica.org.