The clock is ticking for Congress to address the expired farm bill. Several groups are urging lawmakers to get an updated bill to the finish line before the end of the year.
With just a few days left in the session calendar for the 118th Congress, groups representing farmers and agricultural interests say farm bill reauthorization this year is very important — but not very likely.
“I do think it’s much more likely that we get a short-term extension of the 2018 Farm Bill than we get a five-year farm bill done,” said Aaron Shier, the government relations director with National Farmers Union, a group that represents farmers in 33 states.
The farm bill sets the nation’s farming and food policies, covering programs that support farmers, and food assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, for the general public.
The 2018 Farm Bill expired last year, and a one-year extension expired a few months ago. Agriculture committees in the U.S. House and Senate have been working on their own versions of a new farm bill, but progress has been slow.
In the Republican-led House, the Agriculture Committee approved a new farm bill in May, but the legislation has not been taken up by the full chamber. In the Senate, Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) released proposed text for a farm bill in November, which was quickly dismissed by House Republican leaders.
Funding for some farm programs will continue for the rest of the year. But the federal government’s authority to spend money ends with the expiration of a continuing resolution on Dec. 20. Congress is expected to pass a new continuing resolution, and a second extension of the 2018 Farm Bill could be attached to it, if quick agreement on a new farm bill is not possible. There are also proposals to include one-time financial aid to farmers struggling with inflation and natural disasters.
“We’re already into one farm bill extension,” said Brantley Seifers, national affairs director with the Indiana Farm Bureau. “It’s unfortunate that we’re looking at a second one. So if there was a chance to get a new farm bill this Congress. I think we’d jump at that chance. I think that chance is getting slimmer and slimmer every day.”
National Farmers Union and the Indiana Farm Bureau were among hundreds of organizations that signed a letter to congressional leaders during the summer asking for passage of a new farm bill before the end of the year.
“As committed stakeholders and beneficiaries of the farm bill, we cannot continue to wait for updated policies, provisions, initiatives and critical funding that support our collective interests,” the July 22 letter stated.
Nearly six months later, the desire for a new farm bill now is just as strong.
On December 2, 17 Republican governors – including governors from Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma – issued a letter to congressional leaders asking for quick action on a new farm bill.
“Since the expiration of the latest farm bill, conditions have dramatically changed,” the governors wrote. “Another year-long extension will leave farmers working under an outdated plan as they continue to face evolving challenges in today’s agricultural landscape.”
Likely extension
Shier said if Congress passes another farm bill extension, the National Farmers Union’s position is that it should also include additional funding to address new problems that farmers face, such as natural disaster assistance.
“Any extension should take stock of the current economic reality to make sure there’s adequate support if there’s not a full new law,” Shier said.
But Shier worries that the next Congress will be so busy with the agenda of the incoming Trump administration that its attention to the farm bill will be limited.
“The incoming administration has signaled that they have a very full agenda and focus on things like immigration and border enforcement, tax policy, regulatory changes and reducing the size and scope of the federal government,” Shier said. “We’re not hearing a whole lot of talk about getting a farm bill done next year.”
There are also questions about whether the new Congress and the new Trump administration will be as willing to fund the programs that make up the farm bill. Jonathan Coppess, an agricultural policy professor at the University of Illinois, said he envisions a scenario where work on a new farm bill is expedited through a budget reconciliation process, which could limit spending on benefits for farmers, such as crop subsidies and crop insurance.
“You could see an effort to scale those back,” Coppess said. “Those typically are on the list of things that conservative organizations and interest groups really want to see cut. They consider that often to be wasteful, market-distorting spending.”
Another likely target for budget-cutting in the farm bill could be food assistance programs such as SNAP, which was formerly known as food stamps. Coppess said nutrition programs have long been part of the farm bill in order to attract enough votes to move it through Congress.
“It’s running over $110 to $120 billion a year,” Coppess said. “So obviously, it makes it probably a fairly attractive target if Congress is looking for ways to cut spending and offset tax cuts.”
As much as farm groups want to have a farm bill reauthorized this year, many see another extension as a tolerable substitute. If Congress fails to approve either option before year’s end, the federal government’s agricultural programs would revert to what is known as “permanent law,” which would cause the government to subsidize products at prices set in the 1940s.
“It would basically force USDA to pay farmers through these older support programs at levels that far exceed current market prices for these commodities,” Shier said. “And it would … very likely cause real problems in the marketplace for food prices.”
Shier doesn’t see this worst-case scenario as very likely.
Seifers at the Indiana Farm Bureau said that while a farm bill this month would be best, he hopes the new Congress will be ready to approve one next year.
“There are definitely things that are going to take up some oxygen out there in D.C., but I think that the farm bill is going to be top of mind for a lot of members of Congress and Senate,” Seifers said. “So I am very hopeful that we get that done.”
This story was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.