Federal Farm Bill: What It Means for Kids and How to Take Action

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Congress has until September 30th to pass one of the largest pieces of federal legislation – the 2023 Farm Bill. This massive piece of legislation has a major impact on the lives of virtually every Kentucky kid and family, covering everything from food assistance programs to farmers markets and crop insurance to hemp.

While the Farm Bill covers everything related to food and agriculture, the largest portion of the Bill covers federal nutrition programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). SNAP provides low-income families with grocery money through an EBT card, while TEFAP ensures food banks have the food they need to feed Kentuckians in need. Together, these two programs create a safety net that helps Kentucky families access the food and resources they need to thrive.

SNAP is one of the largest public benefit programs in America, providing nine meals to food insecure Kentuckians for every one meal provided by a food bank. With almost 550,000 Kentuckians utilizing SNAP in 2022 and grocery prices rising, it is important that Congress protects increases to SNAP benefit levels and expands the services available to program participants. Congress can do this by:

Upholding the increase to the Thrifty Food Plan

Expanding access to the SNAP Employment & Training Program, which connects recipients to employment and skills building opportunities.

Similarly, TEFAP is in need of additional investments to ensure that Kentucky’s food banks can keep up with increasing demands for support. Congress can support food banks by increasing funding for TEFAP food purchases, as well as helping food banks and pantries pay for the equipment they need to store and distribute food to Kentuckians in need.

In addition to food security, this Farm Bill has the potential to make a huge impact on the substance use of Kentucky kids and teens. The 2018 Farm Bill contained a provision that legalized hemp, a type of cannabis plant that contains very little THC. This provision, while well intended, created a loophole that has led to the widespread production and sale of high-THC, marijuana-like products derived from hemp, such as Delta 8 and Delta 10.

Source: kyyouth.org