News

Boozman says farm bill updates respond to state, stakeholder concerns

U.S. Senate Ag Committee Chairman John Boozman says there have been updates made to the draft text of the farm bill that’s scheduled to be marked up on Thursday.

Two updates have been made “as a good faith effort” in the nutrition program, adding more flexibility to state cost shares and increasing funding for commodity program purchases.

Boozman says the draft now allows states to use either Fiscal Year 2026 or 2027 error rate data to calculate their Fiscal Year 2029 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit cost share. It also increases funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program commodity purchases.

These are changes made to address concerns raised by committee members, states and stakeholders to ensure there’s bipartisan support.

The Senate Ag Committee is scheduled to mark up a farm bill on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. eastern/8:30 a.m. central.