Bresnahan touts food aid bill at Brace’s Orchard in Luzerne County

The Trump Administration cancelled a $13 million contract for food aid in March.

Now, U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan is trying to pass new legislation to support food banks, farmers and lay the groundwork for the next nationwide agricultural bill, which he called ‘Farm Bill 2.0.’

The U.S. Farm Bill is a package of agricultural bills that range from supporting farmers to running the food stamps or the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).

“This is a very pragmatic, common sense piece of legislation. It's about supporting our local farmers. It's supporting our families in need,” Bresnahan (R-Luzerne County) said during a Wednesday morning appearance at Brace's Orchard in Franklin Township.

The freshman congressman held a roundtable with farmers and food assistance workers at the family-run orchard. He pitched his bill, the Local Farmers Feeding our Communities Act, and said if passed, it would aid agricultural workers who lost Local Food Purchasing Assistance (LFPA) funding and prioritize small businesses.

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Bresnahan said his bill would provide small farms “a lifeline … predictability and … stability.” He said it would act as a salve to the removal of the Local Food Purchasing program and does not include legislation on SNAP.

The bill authorizes USDA to spend $200 million per year towards a program that connects food banks to farmers, but does not yet include information on what that program would look like.

“Right now, the first step in the process is to get it (a cooperative program between states, farmers and food banks) reinvigorated and get it back onto the docket. So, we're … trying to solve for the problem of just having it completely eradicated and trying to incorporate it into the Farm Bill,” Bresnahan said.

Bresnahan said the bill will differ from the Local Food Purchasing program by incorporating healthy eating initiatives and limiting the range food in the program can travel from a farm to a food bank to less than 400 miles. That second provision applies more to states that — unlike Pennsylvania — do not have robust agricultural industries.

“Agriculture is a huge part of our existence,” Bresnahan said.

He said agriculture accounts for $65 million in yearly revenue in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, which he represents. The district encompasses all of Wayne, Pike and Lackawanna counties, including parts of Luzerne and Monroe counties. About 95% of the district’s farms are family-owned.

The new program would also require that a quarter of all purchased products from farmers would be from small and mid-sized producers.

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Bresnahan said it would give farmers financial backing to manage industry risks like poor weather conditions.

“The cost of production has increased [and] the cost of fertilizer [has increased]. Everyone is always one storm away from bankruptcy, in essence. So, hopefully this will be one step in the right direction,” Bresnahan said.

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