Aug 7, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 7, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT: Haleemah Atobiloye (she/her), Communications Strategist haleemaha@cehn.org
Committee voted down amendments to protect food assistance, conservation staffing, and tribal food sovereignty, then recessed until September
WASHINGTON, DC — On Thursday, August 6, 2026, the Senate Agriculture Committee failed to advance the Agricultural Act of 2026, known as the Farm Bill, on a 10 to 11 vote. The committee recessed rather than adjourned, keeping the bill pending. Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) said members will return for another vote when the Senate reconvenes in September. The current extension of the 2018 Farm Bill expires September 30, leaving almost no time between a second vote and the deadline. For the families, farmers, and tribal communities whose food, land, and water depend on this legislation, the uncertainty has now been extended by another month.
Ahead of the markup, nineteen organizations supported by millions of Americans, including tribal land stewards, health professionals, faith communities, civil rights organizations, conservation groups, farmer networks, and food justice advocates, delivered a letter to Chairman Boozman and Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). The letter named four priorities: reverse the SNAP cuts and cost shift pushing hunger onto states and families, protect conservation funding and restore the field staff who deliver it, strengthen heirs' property protections, and require meaningful tribal consultation.
The markup delivered one of the four. An amendment from Sen. Raphael Warnock strengthening the Heirs' Property Relending Program and funding legal and technical assistance for underserved heirs was adopted by voice vote as part of the chairman's bipartisan package. Our coalition thanks the senators in both parties who moved it.
The other three priorities were voted down along party lines. The stakes are not abstract. More than 4.5 million people have already lost SNAP benefits since July 2025. The Natural Resources Conservation Service has lost 23 percent of its staff, and 141 counties no longer have a single conservation staffer in their local field office. A farmer who needs help keeping fertilizer out of the creek has no one to call, and downstream, families drink what runs off the fields no one is helping to manage. The Farm Bill decides who eats, whose water is clean, and whose family keeps its land. It is a health bill.
Coalition members issued the following statements ahead of the markup:
"At a time when fuel, food, and basic goods are increasing at alarming rates, the last thing Congress should be doing is cutting into programs that help feed families. Cuts to SNAP will continue to make it more difficult for families to put food on the table and more difficult for farmers and producers to sell food," said Adrian Angulo, Program and Campaign Director, Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project.
"The social, ecological, and nutritional stakes are all high, which means the moral, spiritual, and religious stakes are too. Adamah joins countless others of conscience and faith in calling for a Farm Bill that centers the needs of the people writ large, and of the land itself," said Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Director of Climate Partnerships and Advocacy, Adamah.
"At Xerces, we work directly with growers and NRCS offices to implement conservation programming administered through the Farm Bill. We know firsthand that working lands managers want funding and staff capacity to not only be restored, but to eventually expand so their lands can remain resilient, productive, and places where wildlife thrives alongside agriculture. If Congress is serious about wanting to help farmers, they should invest in these programs and the staff needed to run them," said Rosemary Malfi, Director of Conservation Policy, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
"The Farm Bill should be a catalyst for regenerative agriculture that restores biodiversity and helps recover endangered species. Yet a biodiversity-friendly food system cannot be built through conservation practices alone. Strengthening Indigenous stewardship and ensuring fairness for Black farmers and landowners are essential to achieving lasting benefits for people, wildlife, and the land," said Jewel Tomasula, National Policy Director, Endangered Species Coalition.
“The health of our communities, our agriculture, and our land depends on a robust Farm Bill. We strongly urge Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Klobuchar, and the members of the committee to ensure the Farm Bill delivers the policies and provisions that support our farmers, put affordable and quality food on the table, protect critical ecosystems, and remove toxic chemicals from our agriculture," said Ranjani Prabhakar, Legislative Director of Healthy Communities at Earthjustice Action.
"Prioritizing regenerative agriculture practices like cover crops and encouraging farmers to develop whole farm conservation plans are important steps to improving farm resilience. This bill from Senate Republicans fails to support the rare actions taken by the administration to help farmers. Rather than cut money for these popular programs, Congress must provide more funding to meet the growing backlog of farmer demand for the most effective conservation practices," said Geoff Horsfield, Legislative Director, Environmental Working Group.
"The committee has until September 30 to fix this. The heirs' property provisions show what happens when both parties negotiate in good faith; the party-line votes on nutrition, conservation, and tribal sovereignty show what happens when they do not," said Haleemah Atobiloye, Program Strategist, America the Beautiful for All Coalition. "Our coalition will spend the recess making sure senators hear from the communities this bill has historically failed, and we will be watching in September."
The full text of the coalition letter is available here.
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The America the Beautiful for All Coalition unites 300+ organizations across missions, ecosystems, communities, and cultures to steward nature while upholding environmental justice and defending public health. We follow the leadership of the communities closest to the lands, waters, and wildlife under threat.
