CBS News’ Kelly Werthmann reported that “as the latest extension of the 2018 Farm Bill expired Sept. 30, Congress remained without a new long-term agriculture policy despite years of negotiations and temporary extensions.”
“The Farm Bill is the sweeping legislation that governs many federal farm safety net programs, conservation efforts, crop insurance support and food assistance programs,” Werthmann reported. “While the U.S. House passed a new Farm Bill earlier this year and the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its own version in September, lawmakers have yet to reach a final agreement.”
FarmWeekNow’s Tammie Sloup reported that, despite the expiration of the Farm Bill, “crop insurance and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits (will) continue, but many conservation, research, rural development, trade and energy programs (will) face funding uncertainty without congressional action. Other program funding is linked to the crop year or marketing year, with some of USDA’s farm programs, including those covered under the Commodity Title and dairy support measures, officially expiring Dec. 31.”
“If Congress fails to enact a new farm bill or again extend the 2018 legislation by Dec. 31, USDA would be forced to revert to permanent law, triggering commodity support based on outdated 1930s and 1940s price formulas,” Sloup reported.
Progressive Farmer’s Jake Zajkowski reported that “the more immediate concern is programs whose funding or statutory authority expires even though Congress has addressed funding for other farm bill programs.
“The 2025 reconciliation law provided $1.014 billion for 19 agricultural programs without a budget baseline through fiscal 2031 — preventing a lapse that the bill experiences now,” Zajkowski reported. “Three programs without a baseline from the 2018 farm bill did not receive new funding in the reconciliation law: the Biobased Markets Program, Biorefinery Assistance Program and Rural Economic Development Program.”
The Northern Ag Network reported that Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman “said producers should not expect an immediate disruption. He said the U.S. Department of Agriculture can take administrative steps to keep programs operating through the end of the year while Congress continues negotiations. That flexibility gives lawmakers additional time, but it does not eliminate the need for Congress to pass a new bill. Producers, lenders and rural communities still need certainty about the programs that will govern the next growing season.”
Uncertainty Remains As Long As New Farm Bill isn’t Passed
We Are Iowa’s Brandon Winn reported that Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron “Lehman said the biggest casualty of the Farm Bill dying is the stability farmers rely on.”
“‘Not having a comprehensive Farm Bill eight years after the last one was passed is extremely frustrating. All these pieces need to work together in order to make our food system work,’ Lehman said,” according to Winn’s reporting. “… Everyone we spoke with said they are hoping for an extension to the Farm Bill or passage of a new Farm Bill before the new year.”
Farm Bill Negotiations to Continue Over Election Break
Agri-Pulse’s Noah Wicks, Kim Chipman, and Olivia M. Bridges reported that “Ag Committee Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., is hopeful that (Farm Bill) talks will take place over the break that begins later this week and runs through the first week of November. GOP aides from the Senate and House have already started discussions, and bipartisan negotiations should follow, he says.”
“Boozman is strongly encouraging Democrats to come to the negotiating table now so there’s enough time to pass a farm bill in the final weeks before a new congressional session starts in January,” Wicks, Chipman and Bridges reported. “‘We’ll be talking with members of our committee and conferencing this thing,’ Boozman told an Arkansas Farm Bureau podcast late last week. ‘We won’t wait until we come back, we’ll do that right now, so we’ll be ready to go.'”
