Every five years, Congress must vote to reauthorize the farm bill, a piece of legislation that funds a number of important farm, food, and forestry programs that provide critical support for America’s agriculture industry and affect the economic well-being of millions of people.

With the farm bill set to expire at the end of September, the clock is ticking. As the chairwoman of the New Democrat Coalition’s Farm Bill Task Force, I will have a key role in shaping the farm bill policy for the almost 100-member coalition. I’m committed to ensuring Congress takes action to reauthorize and enhance existing programs, address new challenges, and provide certainty to America’s growers and producers.

As New Dems, we are wholeheartedly committed to developing and advancing commonsense solutions to the greatest problems facing our agricultural communities across the country. As a pediatrician, I’ve spent my career working with children and families to ensure they lead the healthiest lives possible.

Failure to pass a robust farm bill would have devastating consequences in my home state of Washington and across America.

Programs that provide crop insurance, support agricultural research, and bolster trade and market access for farmers would go unfunded. Forestry and conservation programs that financially support farmers and safeguard farmland and wilderness areas would lose funding in the face of increasingly common and unpredictable extreme weather events. Millions of people who rely on nutrition programs such as SNAP to put food on the table would be faced with renewed uncertainty.

This doesn’t have to become our reality.

Over the last year, I have been hosting listening sessions throughout my district to hear directly from farmers, producers, nutrition advocates, firefighters, and other critical stakeholder groups in Washington state to ensure their priorities are reflected in the final version of the farm bill.

As I travel throughout my district, I hear the same concerns from my constituents about rising costs, supply chain issues, and the challenges stemming from extreme weather events.

That’s why I have introduced legislation to do something about it, such as bills that would provide federal funding to help small and underserved local agricultural producers get their products to market, alleviate tariff pressures on Washington apple growers, and increase research investment to combat extreme droughts and floods, tackle pest issues, and feed a growing population with less working land.

Washington state’s climate, rich soils, and large-scale irrigation make it one of the most productive growing regions in the world, enabling farmers to produce more than 300 different crops each year. We are the nation’s top-producing state of apples, pears, and cherries, many of which are grown in the congressional district I serve. Our growers produce top-quality fruits that are in high demand around the globe, with roughly one-third of our crops exported each year.

I know that certainty in trade and access to new export markets is critically important to our farmers and growers so they can make strategic, on-the-ground investments. This requires fair and predictable rules that level the playing field between small farmers and big agribusinesses.

These challenges and more require bold, innovative solutions from responsible leaders in Washington, D.C.

This Congress, New Dems established its first-ever Farm Bill Task Force and endorsed five core priorities for the farm bill to ensure this bipartisan legislation prioritizes economic development that revitalizes rural areas, strengthens nutrition programs to combat food insecurity across the country, provides certainty for growers and producers of all sizes, enhances research and access to international markets, and uses agriculture as a way to improve our environment and supply chains.

These principles are essential to producing a final farm bill that empowers growers and producers to feed and fuel our nation, equip rural communities with the tools and resources they need to succeed, and end hunger in America.

People are counting on Congress to do its job and pass the farm bill on time so citizens have reliable food from farm to table. And I’ll be rallying my colleagues to do just that.

Kim Schrier, M.D., represents Washington’s 8th Congressional District. She is the chairwoman of the New Democrat Coalition’s Farm Bill Task Force.