Heading Back to Washington for Small Farms, Mayim Farm

On June 8 we leave for Washington DC. We'll be back on the 11th. June 10 is the day that matters — that's when we walk into offices on Capitol Hill and talk to the people writing the laws that decide whether a farm like ours can stay in business.

This will be our third trip. Bread for the World, the non-profit that works to end hunger, is sponsoring us again. They keep opening doors and we keep walking through them, because somebody has to.

Why We Keep Going Back

The first time we went to Washington I wasn't sure what two farmers from Opp, Alabama could accomplish sitting across from a congressional staffer in a suit. What I found out is that most of the people making agricultural policy have never set foot on a working farm. They know the numbers. They don't know what the numbers mean for a family trying to keep land productive and a business solvent in Crenshaw County.

That's what we bring. Not lobbying strategy. Not a PAC. Just the plain truth of what farm policy looks like from the ground in lower Alabama.

I wrote about this in February — AL.com published it. You can read it here if you want the longer version of what keeps me up at night about the Farm Bill.

What We're Fighting For This Time

The 2026 Farm Bill passed the House. Now it goes to the Senate. That's where GusNIP and SNAP funding will either be restored or cut further, and where programs like EQIP — which funds conservation work on working farms — get their final funding levels set.

GusNIP — the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program — doubles the purchasing power of SNAP recipients when they buy fresh, locally-grown produce. For a small farm selling at a farmers market in a food desert county, that program is the difference between having a viable local customer base and not having one. The House version of the Farm Bill didn't restore the cuts GusNIP took in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. We're going to the Senate to make the case that it should.

There's also a match requirement problem. To access GusNIP funds, organizations have to match federal dollars one-for-one. In a persistent poverty county like Crenshaw, that match is a wall, not a hurdle. The communities that need this program most can't afford to get into it. That's a solvable problem if enough people say so clearly enough in the right rooms.

EQIP — the Environmental Quality Incentives Program — funds conservation practices on working farms. Cover crops, soil health work, water management. This is money that goes directly to farmers doing the kind of regenerative work we believe in. It has nothing to do with food assistance and everything to do with keeping American farmland productive for the next generation. We want to see those funding levels protected.

Who We're Meeting With

We'll be sitting down with offices representing Alabama's congressional delegation on June 10. Barry Moore, Shomari Figures, and Katie Britt's office are on the schedule. Three different perspectives on what federal farm policy should look like. All of them represent Alabama. All of them need to hear from farmers who are actually farming.

What You Can Do

If any of this matters to you — if you believe small farms should have a seat at the table, that people in food desert counties deserve access to fresh food, that the land that feeds us deserves investment — the most useful thing you can do right now is contact your own representatives and tell them. Not a form letter. A real note. Who you are, where you live, why GusNIP or EQIP matters to you personally. Those notes get read. They get counted.

We'll report back when we're home. Follow along at #lolleylobbyist and #mayimfarm.

— Greg