Farm Bill seems likely to be delayed past Sept. 30 deadline

Passage of a new Farm Bill for the next five years seems likely to be delayed, as chairs of the House and Senate agriculture committees say Congress may need to pass a short-term extension of the current law that expires Sept. 30, reports Leah Douglas of Reuters.

Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow said "It would not surprise me" if a short-term extension will be needed. "We can't give you a date [for a draft], but we're moving as quickly as we can" in the Senate, she said at an event hosted by Bloomberg Government.

Stabenow said the process was delayed by debate over the recent debt-and-spending deal, including changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which the Farm Bill authorizes. Work requirements for the program, once known as food stamps, will now apply to people under 55, not 50.

House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson said the pandemic also delayed the lengthy process, and "said he hopes to have a draft bill ready for markup by the House in September," Douglas reports.

"The American Farm Bureau Federation has about 80 priorities for the new Farm Bill, but the group is focusing on risk management programs," reports Philip Gruber of Lancaster Farming. "These programs — like Dairy Margin Coverage and grain farmers’ Agriculture Risk Coverage — are the most relevant to farmers’ bottom line. For safety-net programs, Farm Bureau has two big goals — increase funding and reset payment thresholds. The rules of some commodity programs are such that farmers won’t get paid unless they have a crop failure," according to Farm Bureau Public Affairs VP Sam Kieffer, speakeing at the PennAgExpo.