The chances of passing a farm bill this year appear more unlikely as election year politics scramble negotiation efforts and threaten delays that could last well into 2025.
Congress returned to Washington on Monday with a little less than three weeks to approve the sweeping $1.5 trillion spending bill, which includes management of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the farm safety net. While House negotiators had planned a concerted effort to approve the legislation before the Sept. 30 deadline, the threat of yet another government shutdown could throw farm bill discussions into disarray.
“I think we’d be better off if we had a five-year farm bill, but we don’t, that isn’t going to happen,” Sen. Chuck Grassley told reporters last week, with the Iowa Republican adding that he expects a one-year extension to be included in the continuing resolution to keep the government funded.
Funding for the federal government expires Sept. 30 — the same day as the farm bill — and Republicans in the House are threatening a potential shutdown in a push for voting registration restrictions at the urging of former President Donald Trump. If the farm bill is not extended, agricultural safety net programs would be thrown into chaos beginning at the end of the year.
However, even with an extension, it could be well into 2025 before Congress is again picks up the farm bill. The election will bring in a new crop of lawmakers that could dramatically alter the makeup of Congress, including party control of the House and Senate.
A new Congress could lead to new challenges in negotiations. But it also would bring practical delays at the start of 2025 as lawmakers ease into their new positions and committee assignments are made.
"That's why it's so important to do this now," House Agriculture Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican, said at the Farm Progress Show last month, adding "the reorganization in the House always takes some time and … there's some delay until the committees are actually appointed."
Farm groups have made a concerted effort over the last few months to energize lawmakers to pass a deal. Over 300 organizations wrote to House and Senate leaders this week saying it is "imperative Congress act before year's end" in order to address financial challenges facing farmers amid a steep decline in commodity prices.
"Failing to reauthorize a farm bill without meaningful investments in commodity programs and crop insurance, or settling for a simple extension of current law, would leave thousands of family farms with no options to continue producing for this nation in 2025 and beyond," according to the letter, which was signed by groups including American Farm Bureau Federation.
Another extension of the 2018 farm bill would mean producers are stuck with an outdated safety net system that is not in touch with current economic conditions, agricultural groups say.
"[M]any producers are facing multiple years of not being profitable and this is causing their overall financial situation to deteriorate," groups wrote in their letter calling for a new farm bill. "Some will have challenges as they seek operating credit for the 2025 crop year."
At Farm Progress, Thompson said he was "optimistic" that a farm bill could get done without the need for an extension, noting that the legislation's passage could provide Republicans a boost ahead of the November elections. Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow, who is retiring this year at the end of her term, told Successful Farming she will do “everything in my power to pass a farm bill” before 2024 comes to a close.
However, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack cast doubt on a speedy resolution to current hurdles in farm bill negotiations. Vilsack said the House Republicans' draft contains funding challenges and makes changes to safety net programs that unfairly benefit certain farmers depending on the crop.
"I know that Chairman Thompson has exercised his enthusiasm and optimism for getting a farm bill done," Vilsack told reporters at Farm Progress. "I share that hope, but I think, frankly, we're going to have to get practical about this.”
