- Bost & Farmers
Bost's Farm Vote Cut the Protections He Claims to Champion
He said he was proud to fight for Southern Illinois producers. His bill slashed conservation funding, stripped protections that kept big meatpackers from cheating local growers, and said nothing about the crisis that actually hit them.
·Issue No. 11
Rep. Mike Bost was proud last week. He said so himself.
His newsletter called his vote for H.R. 8646 a win for "our farmers" in Southern Illinois. He said it would "support our farmers, protect our food and drug supply, and invest in rural communities."
The vote is real. On June 4, 2026, Bost voted yes. The bill passed 213 to 210. But here is what the bill actually did.
The Record
- June 4: Bost votes Yea on H.R. 8646, FY2027 Agriculture Appropriations Act. Passes 213-210.
- June 4: Bost votes Nay on the motion to recommit — a procedural vote that would have sent the bill back for fixes. Motion fails.
- Total spending: $26.27 billion — $380 million below the prior year's enacted level.
- Conservation funding: Cut by nearly 8 percent.
- Packers and Stockyards Act: The bill blocks enforcement of rules protecting poultry and livestock growers from unfair practices by large meatpackers. It orders those rules withdrawn entirely.
- Bost statements on soybean export collapse or farm bankruptcies: None found.
What the Bill Actually Did
Bost's bill did not increase farm funding. It cut it. Total USDA discretionary spending dropped $380 million from the year before. Conservation programs — which help Southern Illinois farmers manage soil, water, and input costs — were cut by nearly 8 percent.
The bill also killed a set of rules that existed to protect small poultry and livestock growers from being cheated by the big companies they contract with. Those rules came from the Packers and Stockyards Act. They were designed to keep large meatpackers from using their size to squeeze contract growers on prices and terms. H.R. 8646 does not just pause those rules. It orders the Secretary of Agriculture to withdraw them entirely.
Southern Illinois has contract poultry and livestock operations. Those growers just lost a layer of protection. Bost voted for that.
The Problem He Says He Solved
Bost's newsletter highlighted one item as a win: protecting farmland from China.
Here is what the data actually shows. China owns roughly 277,000 acres of agricultural land across the entire United States. That is less than one-tenth of one percent of all privately held U.S. farmland. And that number has been going down, not up. Much of it traces back to a single pork company acquisition and a Texas wind energy project that was later blocked.
There is no documented significant Chinese farmland presence in Southern Illinois.
Bost voted to solve a problem that barely exists. Meanwhile, the actual problem went unaddressed.
The Problem He Has Not Mentioned Once
Illinois exported $1.4 billion in soybeans to China last year. In 2025, that number dropped to zero.
That is not a rounding error. China stopped buying. Trump's tariffs triggered Chinese retaliation. China turned to Brazil and Argentina instead, and those countries are now signing long-term supply deals to lock in that business permanently.
Illinois farmers are losing about $1 a bushel on soybeans right now. They are losing 30 cents a bushel on corn. Illinois Agriculture Director Jerry Costello said the stress on farmers is enormous and that it is starting to look like the farm crisis of the 1980s.
I'm scared that we're rivaling a scenario like we saw in the 80s for agriculture.
Nationally, 315 farm bankruptcies were filed in 2025. That is 46 percent more than the year before.
Rep. Eric Sorensen (IL-17) led Illinois delegation members in a letter urging the Trump administration to address the damage. Bost did not sign it. He has issued no statement on the soybean export collapse, the retaliatory tariffs, or the farm bankruptcy numbers.
What This Means for IL-12
Bost's vote cut the conservation programs Southern Illinois farmers rely on. It stripped the rules that kept big meatpackers from taking advantage of local contract growers. And it offered a solution — Chinese farmland oversight — to a problem that is nearly nonexistent in this district.
The problem that is real — a collapsed soybean export market, rising farm bankruptcies, and farmers losing money on every bushel — has not produced a single public statement from Bost's office.
He says he voted for our farmers. The bill he voted for cut their funding and removed their protections. And the crisis that is actually costing them money has not been worth a press release.