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Good afternoon,
We at OCP are loving our summertime snacks. Stop by your community farmer's market to pick up some peppers, peaches, and plums—your local farmers will thank you!
FARM BILL FEVER
- Everything from blueberries to corn will be impacted by this year's Farm Bill, which is up for reauthorization in September. Yet few are confident that the huge law will get passed on time. The current hold up? Lawmakers are pointing fingers at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), saying that it's taking too long to provide cost estimates for the bill.
- Those estimates will be particularly necessary for the contentious conservation and nutrition titles of the bill. Agriculture Committee Democrats will be looking to preserve climate-smart agriculture provisions and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding, but Republicans are likely to continue their program-slashing spree.
GRAIN DEAL CRUMBLES
- More than 34 million Americans—including nine million children—are food insecure and struggle to afford groceries. This domestic crisis was exacerbated by a international one: Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year disrupted global supply chains already snarled by the pandemic and pushed inflation to historic levels.
- An accord brokered by the U.N. and Turkey—the Black Sea Deal—helped to keep the cost of grain and other global food commodities down until last week, when Russia withdrew from the deal, once again impacting food supply chains with the potential to drive up grocery prices just as they are beginning to cool.
- Pandemic-era SNAP benefits have now come to an end and increasingly restrictive SNAP work requirements are set to descend on hungry Americans in September. More geopolitical unrest may not only threaten lives abroad but those of our neighbors as conditions push working Americans closer to a dangerous hunger cliff.
GET THE HOT DISH
On the newest episode of the Hot Dish Podcast, OCP board member and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy explained how cuts to SNAP hurt rural counties, which are often already food insecure. Dr. Tammy Gray-Steele, founder of the National Women in Agriculture Association, and Tanya Spandhla, founder of Passion to See Gardening, also joined to discuss equity in agriculture and how the Farm Bill can better serve farmers of color. Listen now.
STATE ROUNDUP
- In Texas, four women gave hours of gut-wrenching testimony at the abortion ban hearing, detailing experiences of developing sepsis and nearly dying, and of being forced to carry a nonviable fetus to term. They're asking the state court to clarify that physicians have the authority – without risk of prosecution, 99 years in prison, or loss of their medical licenses – to provide abortion care when it is medically necessary.
- Data from CNN showed that Texas' strict ban led to an 11.5 percent increase in infant mortalities in the state, due in part to women being forced to carry fetuses that cannot survive outside the womb to term.
- In Iowa, Republicans utilized a special session to pass a six-week abortion ban – yet another unreasonable law that restricts women from making healthcare choices before many even know they're pregnant – though a state judge temporarily blocked the ban.
- Since the conservative U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Republicans have been rolling back reproductive rights. More and more, however, Americans are opposed to government restrictions on women's reproductive freedoms.
- OCP board member and Iowa State Rep. J.D. Scholten discussed how more than three in five Iowans believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases. However, Iowa's Republican Governor and Republican-controlled Legislature has allowed the state to be subsumed by the national GOP on issues ranging from abortion to education.
- In Alabama, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state's current congressional map unconstitutionally diluted Black voters' voices, Governor Kay Ivey called a special legislative session to redraw Alabama's districts.
- OCP board member and Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels appeared on News 19 prior to the session to discuss the opportunity for "African Americans ... to select their candidate of choice" as well as political challenges raised by the special session.
- During last Friday's session, rather than electing to create more representative districts, Republican lawmakers that dominate the Alabama Legislature refused to create a second majority-Black congressional district.
- The Supreme Court's unexpected ruling to uphold the Voting Rights Act gave hope to voters of color not only in Alabama but also Georgia and Louisiana that their votes would finally count towards fair representation in Congress. However, the Alabama Legislature's decision shows that efforts to expand voting rights will face strong resistance from Republican-dominated state legislatures.
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Each week, this newsletter highlights what's going on in rural states, counties, communities, and what One Country Project is up to around the country. If you value this content, please consider donating to One Country Project. Your contribution supports our efforts to connect with rural voters and to promote greater opportunities for rural communities.
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