Congress Must Address The Needs Of Farmers

Congress has a reputation of fighting, sometime just to fight.  Nowhere was that more true than in 2025, where Congress fought over nearly every piece of legislation important to the farming community.

“Congress really needs to get back into the business of doing a Farm Bill in regular order, and I think that there are many members that want to do that, just the politics tend to get in the way,” said Val Dolcini is head of Public Affairs at Syngenta North America.

Dolcini pointed out that Congress has not passed a full Farm Bill for seven years, a trend he hopes comes to an end in 2026.  In addition to the Farm Bill, Dolcini said he would like to see Congress address the day-to-day cost of being a farmer, which he says is pretty enormous and a real challenge.

“So, affordability, whether it's the price of inputs, or the price of technology, or the price of a new tractor, or the price of gasoline, or the price of health care for a lot of families, has really reached the point where, you know, they're struggling," Dolcini said.  "And so the Congress is thinking about, talking about some sort of relief package for farmers, maybe even before the end of this year. I know that that's something the administration would like to do...But affordability is really the big issue today in American politics and on the minds of American consumers.”

Dolcini added Syngenta would also like to see the Administration address tariffs and ongoing trade wars, noting that farmers depend on those markets to make a profit, or in some cases, make ends meet.

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