Shipman: Impact of 2024 elections on agriculture 'a lot to talk about’
Hunt Shipman, principal and director at Cornerstone Government Affairs, discussed the Farm Bill, China, nutrition programs and more in the Jan. 15 National Ag Law Center webinar.
By Drew Viguet
National Agricultural Law Center
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Jan. 17, 2025
Fast facts:
- Hunt Shipman presented NALC webinar on Jan. 15
- Webinar covered election impacts on ag law and policy
- Recording is available to watch online
(1,475 words)
Download related photo of Shipman
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — With the 119th U.S. Congress beginning and President Trump back in the White House, what developments and changes can the agricultural community expect going forward?
Hunt Shipman, principal and director of Cornerstone Government Affairs, shared his insights on what’s to come during the National Ag Law Center’s Jan. 15 webinar, “Looking Ahead: Impact of the 2024 Elections on Ag Law & Policy.”
“There’s a lot to talk about when we're talking about the impacts of last November's election on agriculture, agricultural law and policy,” he said.
Shipman covered details regarding the new makeup of Congress and the administration. Numerous shakeups look to influence the country’s agriculture sector, such as shifts in the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, & Forestry. Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, previously ranking member of the committee, now serves as the chairman. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota now serves as ranking member.
According to Shipman, in the last Congress, more than 10,000 bills were introduced in the House and over 5,600 introduced in the Senate. Only 275 became law.
“And that’s a little misleading, because oftentimes bills are grouped together into a final package,” he said. “But it’s still indicative of the large volume of material that is introduced and the small amount that actually makes it to the president’s desk.
“And it’s also not surprising that there’s a lot of unfinished work. Obviously, we’ve got a Farm Bill that is hanging out there now. All of these bills will need to be reintroduced before they are taken up in the 119th Congress, which began on Jan. 3.”
Shipman also noted that appropriations bills were not completed last year, resulting in a continuing resolution, or temporary spending bill, which is in place until March 14.
“There will be need to either finish the appropriations bills, or to enact another continuing resolution,” he said. “Or we’ll find ourselves where we have been in the past with the potential for a government shutdown looming over our heads again.”
What’s ahead?
In the days, weeks and months ahead, the Senate will be confirming cabinet members.
“But as that process is unfolding in the Senate, on the House side of things, you’ve already seen committees begin their hearing work for the coming year,” Shipman said. “The budget reconciliation process has been a hot topic of discussion, both as a tool that the administration and Congress would like to use to claw back funding and reduce spending, but also to advance policy objectives such as border security.”
Shipman said he expects attempts to claw back Inflation Reduction Act funding in a number of areas, with energy being one. Nutrition programs will also be an area of discussion for reform and spending reduction.
“And we may see concern from the ag committee about whether any reconciliation instruction that they receive might make it more difficult for them to pass a Farm Bill,” Shipman said. “Because they may have eyes on some of those funds as ways to offset the needed increases in spending that have been identified in commodity and other places.”
“It may be possible that doing the nutrition parts of that in reconciliation might make it easier to pass a Farm Bill, because it takes that controversial topic away from the actual Farm Bill debate.”
Shipman also noted the procedural challenges that come with doing anything that is not directly related to spending in a reconciliation bill.
“So even if the spending parts of a Farm Bill are handled in the reconciliation process, there will be a need for us to do a parallel bill to address the policy-focused changes that may not have a direct dollar impact,” he said.
Ag Nominees
Brooke Rollins, currently the chief executive officer of the America First Policy Institute, has been nominated by President Trump to serve as U.S. secretary of agriculture. Rollins worked in the previous Trump Administration as director of the Domestic Policy Council and assistant to the president for Strategic Initiatives.
In addition to Rollins, Trump has nominated Judge Stephen Vaden of the U.S. Court of International Trade to serve as the No. 2 position at U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, in the role of deputy secretary of agriculture.
While not formally nominated, Tyler Clarkson, who is vice president and deputy general counsel at Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc., has been identified as the next USDA general counsel. Clarkson previously worked with Judge Vaden at USDA in the general counsel’s office during the previous Trump administration.
“As soon as we can see the hearing announced for secretary designate Rollins, that will probably open the gates for some additional names to be coming out,” Shipman said.
On Jan. 16, following the NALC webinar, the Senate Ag Committee scheduled the hearing for Rollins for Thursday, Jan. 23.
Farm Bill
Last year saw the expiration of the 2018 Farm Bill, which had been extended a second time through the American Relief Act, signed on Dec. 21, 2024.
“We’ve got until Sept. 30 before the most recent extension of the Farm Bill expires,” Shipman said. “So, whether the Farm Bill is done in reconciliation or done standalone, we’ve got some time to deal with that.”
Shipman mentioned that Sen. Boozman has previously said, “We need more farm in the Farm Bill.”
“That’s certainly something I think we’ll see as his team rolls out their version of a Farm Bill hopefully early this year,” he said. “And we’ve certainly got new Democrats on the top committee positions in both the House and the Senate, which will be interesting to see how much they deviate from their predecessors’ positions as we look at a Farm Bill going forward.”
China
According to Shipman, competition from China will be an important focus for the new administration. The last Congress saw the founding of the U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party. Foreign ownership of agricultural land will continue to be a big topic of discussion for this administration.
“There will be other issues around biotechnology, intellectual property and how they relate to China that I think will continue to be high priority,” Shipman said.
A 2011 study by the U.S. International Trade Commission estimated that losses to U.S. firms from intellectual property rights infringement in China was approximately $48 billion in 2009. The current battles over the social media platform TikTok reflect some of the angst over foreign ownership.
Tariffs
Tariffs are also a topic of much discussion, and how things shake out could impact numerous areas of spending in agriculture.
“If you look at some of the tariff proposals that the president has talked about, if Congress were to legislate those, they could raise up to $10 trillion,” Shipman said. “And that has direct implications for agriculture, because there are dedicated percentages of tariffs under Section 32 that are available to USDA for things like offsetting the cost of the School Lunch Program and purchasing surplus commodities through the Section 32 program at AMS. So, these things become quickly intertwined and complicated as we go forward.”
AMS, or the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, is one of the agencies which administers Section 32, a permanent appropriation bill that was established with the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935. Through Section 32, a percentage of customs receipts go towards the agricultural sector.
Nutrition
With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, nutrition programs such as SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, will likely get plenty of attention.
“The House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee’s FY 25 agriculture appropriations bill created a pilot program for limiting food choices in the SNAP Program, with an eye to restricting eligibility to healthy foods and other things,” Shipman said.
However, the focus on limiting less healthy foods, likely won’t be a budgetary discussion, he said.
“One thing to keep in mind about product restrictions in the SNAP Program: because SNAP benefits are dollar-denominated, not product-denominated, really probably any change in the eligible foods that can be bought with SNAP benefits has a minimal, if no, budget impact,” he said.
Fraud reduction and tightening work requirements are all issues that will likely also be on the table during discussion of nutrition programs, at the agency level, agency guidance level, and Congressional level, says Shipman.
Right to Repair
On Jan. 15, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission and the states of Illinois and Minnesota filed a lawsuit against John Deere regarding farmers’ right to repair their own equipment, the latest in an ongoing legal saga. Right to repair was the focus of a 2024 NALC webinar.
“I think that will only increase pressure at both the state and federal level to potentially include right to repair provisions in the Farm Bill or some other legislative vehicle,” noted Shipman.
A full recording of Shipman’s NALC webinar is available online at https://nationalaglawcenter.org/webinars/2024election-impact.
For information about the NALC, visit nationalaglawcenter.org. The NALC is also on X, Facebook and LinkedIn. Subscribe online to receive NALC Communications, including webinar announcements, the NALC’s Quarterly
Newsletter, and The Feed.
About the National Agricultural Law Center
Created by Congress in 1987, the National Agricultural Law Center serves as the nation’s
leading source of agricultural and food law research and information. The NALC works
with producers, agribusinesses, state and federal policymakers, lenders, Congressional
staffers, attorneys, land grant universities, students, and many others to provide
objective, nonpartisan agricultural and food law research and information to the nation’s
agricultural community.
The NALC is a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and
works in close partnership with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, National Agricultural
Library.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen
agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption
of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative
Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work
within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas
System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension
and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex,
gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital
or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and
is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
# # #
Media contact:
Drew Viguet
Communications & Special Projects Coordinator
National Agricultural Law Center
dviguet@uark.edu