Spending bill would waive loans of limited-resource farmers, fund climate mitigation, extend nutrition programs and more

The $1.75 trillion spending bill House Democrats proposed Thursday has much for farmers, reports Chuck Abbott of the Food & Environment Reporting Network. It includes:

• A program that seeks to mitigate climate change by paying farmers up to $25 an acre to grow cover crops during fallow seasons.
• $22.3 billion in additional funding for four U.S. Department of Agriculture land-stewardship programs, "with an emphasis on building soil carbon, reducing nitrogen loss, and limiting or capturing greenhouse gas emissions, according to a summary of the legislation."
• "$960 million in grants for equipment to dispense biofuels, a four-year extension of the biodiesel tax credit, and a new tax credit for developing sustainable aviation fuel."
• The current summer nutrition program for children would continue until September 2024.
• The Community Eligibility Provision, which allows schools to serve free meals to all students, would not end until October 2026.
• The wildly popular expansion of the child tax credit would be extended for another year. "In addition, full refundability — a recent change to the credit that allows children in the poorest families to get the money — will be made permanent," says CNBC. 
• "Stymied by lawsuits that contend USDA debt relief for farmers of color is actually reverse discrimination, House Democrats proposed an alternative: full or partial forgiveness of USDA loans to limited-resource farmers. The multi-billion-dollar proposal, which does not mention race, is directed toward economically distressed farmers and ranchers in high-poverty areas," Abbott writes. The $6 billion fund "also allows payments of up to $500,000 apiece to farmers, ranchers, and forest owners who were victims of bias in USDA lending programs, as well as allotting funds to resolve heirs’ property issues and for equity commissions to explore racial equity at USDA and in its programs."