There is an important factor is at play in this year’s Farm Bill process – one not often mentioned but nonetheless being closely watched by Farm Bill observers. It’s the growing international debate over the pace and extent of ambitious green policies and programs – and the prominent role played by the farming community in that debate.

Climate Change Concerns Across the Pond

Farm protests first gained attention in the European Union, where farmers concerned about their precarious financial situation prompted marches, tractorcades, street protests and incidents of civil disobedience.

Ports have been blocked, the European Parliament pelted with eggs. Protests erupted in France, Germany, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Portugal – and more recently have spread across the globe.

Protestors decried the effects of increasing regulation, costly bureaucracy and especially restrictions on land use and inputs they argued cut into their financial security.  The argument seems to have gained some political traction.

In Europe, the farmer protests and opposition from several member states already had led to a long delay in implementation of an ambitious Nature Restoration Plan. The Plan finally won overall approval after the June elections for the European Parliament.

However, critics in the farm community continue to argue that the plan lacks the clear and consistent funding it needs to be implemented.  They also note that the environmentally focused Green Party suffered the loss of one-third of its seats in those same elections.

Discontent Down Under

Australian Pollster Kristy McSweeney echoed the European farmers’ economic worries by reporting that citizens down under make immediate economic and healthcare concerns their top priorities, well ahead of climate change issues.

McSweeney reports that only two in five citizens believe Australia will meet its emission-reduction targets for 2030 and 2050.

Many of those involved in the protests emphasize that their actions reflect practical concerns more than political ambitions. They continue to value the preservation and protection of the natural resources on which their livelihoods depend.

But they want to see climate policies tempered by economic reality, too. Green advocates remain suspicious, however.

Green Member of European Parliament (MEP) Jutta Paulus recently reported to Energy Intelligence that “it is likely that we will have more parties [in the European Parliament] that deny human-induced climate change and thus will very likely not only not prioritize climate and energy measures, but actively work toward dissolving things that have been reached.

Paulus continues, “the other side of the argument is that EU citizens and member states should have more choice in what green technologies they support so long as the overall 2050 net-zero target is met.”

Back in the USA

European politics and Australian public opinion may seem an unimportant sideshow in the Farm Bill debate. After all, another legislative extension will be largely invisible to consumers. Fundamental policies and programs will remain in place, with the most significant issue likely to center on how to appropriate and allocate the federal funds they require.

The existing policies and programs that farmers rely upon to make basic immediate production decisions will continue under an extension. But the indecision will make longer-term decisions more problematic.

U.S. policymakers will watch the political trends in the EU and elsewhere for signs of what may be coming in their political backyard. They can see the power of the farm community to influence voters – and the larger concerns that may be emerging about the balance of ambitious climate-change action and fundamental pocketbook issues for farmers and consumers alike.

What is happening in Europe may be a political object lesson for those who must vote on a Farm Bill with a 10-year price tag of $1.4 trillion.