With the September expiration of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 2018, time is of the essence for Congress to negotiate and pass a new farm bill. This multiyear, omnibus legislation does more than provide vital economic support for our nation’s farmers and ranchers. It helps 40 million low-income families put food on the table through SNAP and funds food pantries through the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). It funds conservation programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) that help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners develop and implement strategies that maintain the health of the natural resources on their land. The farm bill also authorizes and funds rural development programs that address critical infrastructure needs in rural areas from utilities including renewable energy and broadband internet access, to community facilities and services like childcare centers. The impact of the farm bill extends across both urban and rural areas, from the farm to our tables, and in the U.S. and abroad. At its heart, the farm bill reflects how we tend to the needs of our neighbors and our planet as stewards of God’s vision for a just world.

As such, we must work to prevent spending cuts and the addition of onerous work requirements to food assistance programs like SNAP that will result in millions of people losing access to food. We must mitigate the effects of climate change on our ability to grow and raise food while also reducing the emissions generated by agriculture that exacerbate the same climate crisis. And we must help small to medium farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers thrive economically against the harms of corporate, industrial agriculture. As people of faith, let us lift our voices to Congress urging them to:

Protect and strengthen nutrition programs like SNAP by rejecting spending cuts and additional work requirements.
Strengthen policies and programs that address climate change and protect our natural resources from environmental degradation.
Provide a fair and effective farm safety net that allows farmers, farmworkers, and producers in the U.S. and around the world to earn economically sustainable livelihoods.
Ensure equitable program implementation to remedy patterns of discrimination for historically underserved communities.

We are called by God to be advocates of justice for the hungry, for the hands that cultivate the land, and for the land itself. Let us answer that call by contacting our members of Congress today.