Melissa Kaplan

Senior Manager of Government Affairs

Melissa Kaplan is senior manager of government affairs for the Food & Environment program at UCS. She writes about federal policy and programs on agriculture, food security, and the Farm Bill.

photo of House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson speaking from a podium with the seal of the House of Representatives; behind him are other Republican members of the committee and several flags

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

August 20, 2025

What Is a “Skinny” Farm Bill—and Is It a Bad Thing?

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

photo of the US Capitol set against a blue sky, with the US flag waving in the breeze

drnadig/Getty Images

July 22, 2025

What Does Trump’s Budget Bill Mean for the Farm Bill?

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

aerial view of flooded farm fields and buildings in Missouri

Scott Olson/Getty Images

May 5, 2025

The Next Food and Farm Bill Can Make Agriculture More Resilient—With the Help of the ARA

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

photo of a farmer on a tractor pulling a hay rake through a field; in the background are a farmhouse, low green hills, and blue sky

Scott Olson/Getty Images

January 7, 2025

How Farm Policy Was Caught Up in a Dramatic End to 2024

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

photo of an empty US Senate hearing room, with a row of padded blue chairs on a raised dais facing out toward multiple rows of metal chairs for visitors

WellesEnterprises/Getty Images

October 15, 2024

The Election Is Almost Here—But Where Is the Farm Bill?

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

photo of the US Capitol at dusk, with its silhouette and streetlights reflected on water in the foreground

Jeffrey Clayton/Unsplash

July 22, 2024

Will Congress Do the Right Thing on Agriculture Funding?

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

Kirsten Strough/USDA

May 10, 2024

Congressional Ag Chairs Release Dueling Farm Bill Proposals. What Happens Next?

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

photo of a US Senate door in a dark brown wood; in gold letters a plaque on the door says "Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry"

Shutterstock/DCStockPhotography

March 18, 2024

Show Me the (Agriculture Appropriations) Money

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

photo of rows of wilted savoy cabbage in a farm field affected by drought

BearFotos/Shutterstock

January 24, 2024

The USDA’s Climate Hubs Could Help Farmers Adapt to Extreme Weather

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

photo of a farmer wearing a bucket hat and driving a tractor toward the camera, with some trees and hazy sky in the background

USDA/Lance Cheung

August 15, 2023

Three Things the 2023 Food and Farm Bill Can—and Should—Do

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

photo of members of the Good Food For All coalition posing on the steps in front of the US Capitol in May 2023

Juan Carlos Soriano/UCS

May 10, 2023

Coalition Members Deliver Their Food and Farm Bill Message to Congress

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs

photo of a family picking strawberries in a field, with a house in the background

SrA Dennis Sloan, USAF/Department of Defense

April 4, 2023

What Should the 2023 Food and Farm Bill Include—and How Do We Make It Happen?

Melissa Kaplan
Senior Manager of Government Affairs