Food Security Is National Security: Agriculture Policy for a New Era

The Farm Bill, our country’s cornerstone for farm and nutrition policy, has long been a rare beacon of bipartisan success. But the recent deal to reopen the government quietly tacked on yet another extension of the 2018 Farm Bill that has had a series of extensions since 2023. So the question is: are we watching the end of big bipartisan legislation? Or is it time to rethink the playbook entirely, bringing in new stakeholders and connecting more of the issues that shape the system to build a broader coalition?

Consider the landscape we’re navigating. This year, USDA projects an agricultural trade deficit approaching $50 billion. Meanwhile, defense, Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, and interest on the debt account for roughly 70% of federal spending. At the same time, 70% of Americans are overweight or obese, and the One Big Beautiful Bill proposes cutting $186 billion from SNAP over the next decade. These are enormous, interconnected challenges, and maybe the only way forward is to bring them to the same negotiating table and design solutions big enough to match the moment.

In this episode, Sanjeev Krishnan sits down with Randy Russell, President of The Russell Group, a bipartisan government relations firm focused exclusively on food and agriculture public policy, and Grant Leslie, S2G’s new Operating Partner for Government and Policy. Together, they break down how linking agriculture, nutrition, healthcare, and fiscal realities could unlock better outcomes for American producers, communities, and national security. But doing that requires a systems mindset. It means widening the tent. It means seeing farm policy as far bigger than agriculture alone.

And ultimately, the people who will succeed here will be the ones bold enough to think differently.

Chapters:

04:59 Randy Russell's Career Journey

06:43 The Rural-Urban Divide in Politics

09:52 State of American Agriculture

13:46 Challenges in U.S. Agricultural Policy

16:28 The Future of the Farm Bill

19:55 New Stakeholders in Food and Agriculture

22:55 Linking Agriculture, Healthcare, and National Security

31:49 The Role of Technology and Innovation

41:41 Food Security as National Security

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