The Farm Bill Is a Hunger Bill: A LAMA Response to Chairman Boozman’s Proposal
The farm bill is often described as legislation for farmers — and it is. But for Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Arizona, the farm bill is also a hunger bill, a rural communities bill, a conservation bill, and a moral test of how our nation cares for neighbors who struggle to put food on the table.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman released a new “Farm Bill 2.0” proposal on June 23, describing it as legislation “built for the people who feed America.” The proposal includes provisions affecting farmers, ranchers, rural communities, conservation programs, specialty crop producers, broadband access, rural health care, child care, water infrastructure, and agricultural research.
Many of these priorities matter in Arizona. Our state depends on farmers, farmworkers, ranchers, food banks, rural communities, tribal nations, conservation leaders, and families trying to afford groceries in a time of high costs. Investments in rural infrastructure, safe drinking water, specialty crops, conservation, and local food systems can strengthen communities and support the people who grow, distribute, and rely on food.
But from a LAMA perspective, the most urgent question is this: Does the proposal do enough to protect hungry people?
In Arizona, the need is not theoretical. Before new federal rules took effect, about 900,000 Arizonans received SNAP food aid — roughly 12% of the state’s population, with much higher participation in many rural counties. Since H.R. 1, Arizona’s SNAP caseload has fallen by nearly 47%, the steepest drop in the country. About 424,000 Arizonans have lost access to SNAP, including more than 181,000 children. At the same time, more than 700,000 Arizonans experience food insecurity at any given moment.
Those numbers should alarm every person of faith.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warns that Chairman Boozman’s proposal does not address the unfolding SNAP crisis. Families are losing food assistance not because groceries are suddenly affordable or hunger has disappeared, but because eligibility rules, paperwork, work requirements, state cost pressures, and administrative barriers are making it harder for eligible people to keep benefits.
SNAP is one of the most effective anti-hunger programs in the country. It helps families buy groceries, supports local economies, and reduces pressure on already overburdened food banks and congregational ministries. Churches and charities do extraordinary work, but they cannot replace a strong federal nutrition safety net. When SNAP weakens, children, seniors, rural communities, people with disabilities, veterans, farmworkers, and working families feel it first.
LAMA can affirm the importance of supporting the people who feed America. Arizona farmers and ranchers deserve tools to withstand drought, market uncertainty, high input costs, and climate stress. Rural communities deserve broadband, health care, clean water, child care, and economic opportunity. Conservation programs should help protect land, water, and future generations.
But we must also insist that hungry people are not an afterthought. The farm bill must strengthen, not weaken, our national commitment to ending hunger. Congress should address the SNAP crisis directly, protect access for eligible households, support state agencies that administer benefits, and ensure that families in every state can receive food assistance when they need it.
Arizona Lutherans see hunger in food pantry lines, school meal programs, cooling centers, senior ministries, refugee resettlement work, border communities, rural towns, and urban neighborhoods. We also know that public policy can either deepen hardship or help communities thrive.
As Congress continues farm bill negotiations, LAMA urges advocates to pay close attention. We can thank lawmakers for provisions that support rural communities, farmers, conservation, water, and fresh food access. We can also ask them to do more — much more — to protect SNAP and ensure that no child, senior, veteran, disabled neighbor, farmworker, or working family is left hungry.
The farm bill is not only about agriculture. It is about whether we believe feeding people is a national priority.
For people of faith, the answer must be yes.