Op-Ed: The Passage of Farm Bill 2.0 is Vital to Colorado’s Rural Economies

Op-ed: The passage of Farm Bill 2.0 is vital to Colorado’s rural economies

By Jeremy Anderson

Mr. Anderson is the President & CEO of Farm Credit of Southern Colorado and has been in this role since 2017.

It’s 2026, and it’s time for the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, also referred to as Farm Bill 2.0. 

On April 17, Farm Credit led a letter to House leadership underscoring the vital need for Farm Bill 2.0. Along with more than 330 agricultural organizations, including all Farm Credit banks and associations representing the 50 states and Puerto Rico, I was proud to sign this letter, representing Farm Credit of Southern Colorado. My signature demonstrated my appreciation to lawmakers for supporting important parts of the Farm Bill included as part of H.R. 1, while emphasizing that critical work to pass a full suite of Farm Bill programs remains unfinished.

Since 2023, America’s farmers and rural communities have been left in limbo without a full, five-year Farm Bill. For three years, only temporary extensions and aid packages have existed to fill the gaps of an evolving — and increasingly strained — agricultural economy.

The next step is simple, and necessary: the House must pass the bipartisan Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, which was reported out of the House Agriculture Committee in March.

A Farm Bill doesn’t just empower current producers and operations — it helps enable their future. The committee-approved Farm Bill 2.0 will bolster current and future next generations of agriculture by increasing and improving the tools available to them. 

Producers across Southern and Eastern Colorado communities are already navigating razor-thin margins driven by rising input costs, drought, and volatile commodity prices. When water supply is tight and margins are thin, one bad season can ripple through the entire local economy. Crop insurance and disaster assistance programs in this legislation are not just safety nets. They are what keep operations running, employees working, and local businesses open. 

Supporting our producers also means supporting the rural communities where they live and work. Rural Americans deserve access to high-quality local facilities, such as hospitals, childcare centers, and rural clinics, just like their peers in urban and suburban neighborhoods. The bill before the House contains key provisions to boost investment in these essential facilities by allowing Farm Credit to finance rural community facilities and encouraging partnerships on these projects with community banks.

Across Southern Colorado, many producers are nearing retirement, while younger operators face steep barriers to entry. Provisions in this legislation support young, beginning, and small farmers and ranchers with expanded access to capital, while investing in rural quality of life factors like childcare and healthcare to make it more feasible for the next generation to stay and build a future in rural Colorado. Without this pipeline, the long-term outlook for rural Colorado communities becomes far more uncertain.

The time to act on Farm Bill 2.0 is now.  Since the full Farm Bill reauthorization in 2018, the world and our agricultural economy have shifted drastically. In many of Colorado’s rural communities, agriculture is a primary economic driver. Strong crops and fair prices mean more customers walking into Main Street stores. When producers have access to reliable capital, economic activity becomes more stable and entire communities’ benefit.

Farm Credit of Southern Colorado has been a reliable partner to rural America for the past 100 years. As a customer‑owned cooperative, we are rooted in the places we work, and we reinvest our earnings directly into the farmers, ranchers and rural communities we serve. Over the past 10 years, our Patronage program has distributed over $80 million back to our customer-owners. These funds go back into our customer’s operations and rural economies. In this critical moment, serving rural America also includes doing our part to advocate for passage of Farm Bill 2.0.

The Agriculture Committee’s approval was the first step. Now the full House must pass the bill to take the next step toward the paramount goal: signing the Farm Bill into law this year.

The stakes could not be higher. Representatives Hurd, Boebert, Crank, and Petersen, along with Senators Bennett and Hickenlooper, along with their colleagues in Congress must act now, because no one can afford to wait longer for Farm Bill 2.0.