It’s been nearly eight years since Congress reauthorized the farm bill, the massive legislative package that funds programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. What used to be passed roughly every five years, the farm bill touches nearly every aspect of agricultural production in the U.S. It puts billions toward conservation programs, nutrition assistance, rural development, crop insurance, and climate-smart practices.
But persistent disagreements between lawmakers over these and other programs have stymied the process of passing a new farm bill. The federal government has instead resorted to stop-gap measures and one-year extensions of a small handful of programs.
If farmers were hoping to see a new farm bill this year, they may very well be disappointed — as a new schism between the two houses of Congress was made clear this week, when the Senate agricultural committee released a draft of its farm bill that excluded a law known as the Save Our Bacon Act. The measure was included in the House d... Read more
