Tentative agreement is reached on Farm Bill, with hemp legalization but no SNAP work rules or late forestry ideas

House and Senate negotiators have reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year Farm Bill. They are largely mum, but Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, chair of the Agriculture Committee, "said that it included a compromise over proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps," Bryan Lowry reports for McClatchy Newspapers.

The "compromise" apparently will not include "an incendiary proposal by House Republicans for strict SNAP work requirements," Chuck Abbott reports for Agriculture.com. With that "apparently off the table, the $87-billion-a-year legislation would make few noteworthy changes in U.S. food and ag policy." Nutrition programs are 80 percent of the bill's spending.

Insiders say the bill makes mostly minor changes to crop subsidies and expands the Conservation Reserve Program. "For farmers, the most welcome part of the bill would be the first chance since the 2014 farm law took effect to switch enrollment between the insurance-like Agricultural Risk Coverage subsidy and the traditionally styled Price Loss Coverage subsidy," Abbott reports.

Forest-management funding was one of the last points of contention. House Republicans, picking up on President Trump's view that California wildfires were triggered by state forest-management issues, wanted "to scale back forestry regulations and allow expedited removal of dead trees brush, among other changes, but environmental groups and some Democrats say the proposals go too far," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Morning Agriculture. The Forest Service is part of the USDA.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said the agreement must be vetted by the Congressional Budget Office, which could take until next week, Abbott reports. "Congress needs to pass a bill before the end of the year to ensure crop insurance and other agriculture programs continue to operate," Lowry notes.

UPDATES: The bill includes language to legalize industrial hemp, Sen. Rand Paul announced in a press release. His Kentucky colleague, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, also pushed for it.

The American Farm Bureau Federation said the bill "is good news for farmers amid a prolonged downturn in the agricultural economy. . . . The Farm Bill and ag policy broadly remain bipartisan matters and we encourage both houses of Congress to approve this bill once it is finalized by House and Senate ag leaders."