In an interview with Arkansas PBS, Arkansas’ U.S Senator John Boozman, said the extension lawmakers have received to work out the details of the upcoming farm bill has been helpful. The farm bill is legislation that has to be renewed every 5 years and it deals with farm programs like crop insurance, as well food programs like food stamps.

Boozman, a Republican, said part of the challenge of creating a farm bill is the regional differences of lawmakers.

“Southern agriculture is distinct front the I’s- Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. The I- states are very different. We [southern states] are able to irrigate with a lot of water so we can produce the crop and the fertilizer. We worry about the price going down because of how much it grows,” Boozman said. “In the Midwest, they don’t have as much water. They don’t irrigate as much. They worry about not having the crop.”

U.S Senator John Boozman said regional differences, inflation a challenge to crafting the farm bill

*Fred Miller/UA Division Of Agriculture*
Corn research plots at the Milo J. Shult Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Fayetteville, Ark. on July 8, 2022.

By MADDIE BECKER

Two changes at the federal level mean most Arkansas recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will see a change in benefits this month. A majority of the 160,000 households enrolled in the program should see an increase in assistance, according to the Arkansas Department of Human Services, which administers the program locally.

Formerly known as food stamps, the program covers a portion of each qualifying household’s food budget, with benefits distributed through an electronic benefits transfer card.

At the end of September, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ended a temporary 15% increase in SNAP benefits which had been put in place to help during the COVID-19 pandemic. But Mary Franklin, director of DHS’ Division of County Operations, says for most households, that will be offset by a reevaluation of the federal Thrifty Food Plan, which SNAP benefits are based on.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/snap-benefits-increasing-most-arkansas-recipients