FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
May 1, 2026
Contact: Levi Teitel, levi@progressmichigan.org
Advocates Press Senate to Oppose House Farm Bill
Polling shows House was correct to get rid of pesticide ‘poison pills’ due to overwhelming public opposition
MICHIGAN – Advocates held a press conference and poll briefing upon the passage of the Farm, Food and National Security Act (H.R. 7567), also known as the farm bill, in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Multiple Michigan organizations expressed their opposition due to the legislation including billions of dollars in cuts to food assistance, undermining renewable energy programs, stripping funding for conservation programs, creating new environmental loopholes, while allowing taxpayer dollars to be funneled to wealthy corporate commodity farms. This opposition comes as advocacy organizations and farmers sent a letter to Michigan’s federal lawmakers this week urging a “nay” vote on the farm bill, while sounding alarm bells back in March when the House Agriculture Committee advanced the legislation.
“While it’s important to advance a farm bill, a bad one is worse than not having one,” said Bob Thompson, a fifth-generation owner and operator of a centennial farm in Isabella County and president of Michigan Farmers Union. “The farm bill that’s being proposed largely continues existing farm safety net programs that really do not match the scale of the current economic crisis that family farmers are facing.”
Participants also unveiled polling data from Michigan that found broad support for eliminating the toxic poison bills that were eliminated from the farm bill right before passage. The bill’s original language would shield chemical manufacturers for the harms they cause to farmworkers and prevent opposition to local and state governments from enacting their own pesticide labeling requirements, which were eventually defeated in an amendment. This came as the United States Supreme Court held oral arguments this week in Monsanto v. Durnell, which will decide whether pesticide manufacturers like Bayer and Monsanto can be shielded from lawsuits brought against them for health issues tied to their pesticide products.
“The House Republican’s farm bill pulls a page from the Project 2025 agenda by weakening environmental safeguards and shielding corporations from the harm they cause to us,” said Justin Mendoza, MPH, executive director of Progress Michigan. “We’re glad that the poison pills to preempting state and local laws about pesticide application have been stripped from the bill’s language, because this move would deny justice to farmers and farmworkers who face the health effects of cancers and chronic illnesses. At the same time, this farm bill as written will not protect the health of rural and urban communities.”
Participants on the press call shared what’s at stake in Congress and communities across the country while releasing polling data backing up how House leadership is missing the mark with this farm bill and why Senators need to stand firm in the negotiation process.
“Families across this country are already feeling the impact of nearly $187 billion in SNAP cuts enacted through last July’s Republican megabill,” said Dana Mohammad, statewide coalitions director for Detroit Action. “Now, the so-called Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, would double down on those cuts. It keeps limits on future benefits, adds oppressive work reporting requirements, and imposes new eligibility restrictions that will force millions of families to lose critical support. Let’s be clear: SNAP and WIC are not solutions to poverty. They are lifelines. Weakening them will force families into impossible choices between food, rent, medicine, and care for their loved ones.”
“The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed a Farm Bill that included the so-called and misleadingly titled ‘Save Our Bacon’ (SOB) Act,” said Bee Friedlander, executive committee member of Michiganders for a Just Farming System. “SOB would prohibit state and local governments from regulating standards for raising animals for food outside the state.If you are a large-scale industrial pork producer, often with ties to foreign countries, this is a gift. If you care about animal welfare, small scale farming, rural quality of life, states’ rights, the democratic process, federal over-reach, health, this is a loss. However, it faces an uncertain future in the Senate which is seeking to avoid controversial ‘poison pill’ provisions in the farm bill.”
“There are alternative solutions for our food that support regenerative agriculture that would increase security for farmers and people trying to eat and afford food,” said Nichole Biber, organizer with Clean Water Action and a tribal citizen of Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. “The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in the farm bill are not only not expanded, but they’ve been decreased at a time when we’ve been an increasingly insecure place for climate impacts, droughts, and other unknowns.”
To learn about the special role that Michigan plays in the farm bill, go to progressmichigan.org/farmbill. To view a recording of today’s press conference, go here.
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