Call to Action – Support Agricultural Priorities

This Action Wednesday we’re digging into the federal appropriations process and asking you to call your US Representative and Senators to support a few agricultural priorities in the FY26 spending bill. The House and the Senate committees have each passed a version of this bill, and in the coming weeks they will have to vote on a final version of this bill.  The Senate’s version is significantly better than the House’s version, so we are asking you to contact your members of Congress with the following messages:

• Senate: Vote yes on the Senate’s FY26 agriculture appropriations bill
• House: The House’s FY26 appropriations bill does not adequately fund essential programs our farmers rely on. Support the Senate’s funding levels instead.

Here is a script you can use:

Hello, my name is [Your Name] and I am [Your Title] at [Your Organization] in [Your Town and State]. As the House and Senate prepare to reconcile differences between each proposal for the FY26 agriculture spending bill, I want to urge [Sen./Rep. Name] to ensure robust funding for the following programs at these Senate levels:

• Conservation Technical Assistance at $775 million,
• Sustainable Agriculture, Research, and Education at $48 million,
• Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production at $6 million, and
• Local Agriculture Marketing Program at $11.5 million.  

[Optional: tell a story about how important these programs are] Thank you again for your consideration. 

Thank you for your time and help supporting farmers and our local food system!