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Farm bill stalemate will continue into 2026

It appears another year will end without the passage of a five-year farm bill.

Minnesota Farmers Union president Gary Wertish says there are many titles that have been extended from the 2018 Farm Bill that are outdated.

“Rural Development is one title that’s very important to rural America. A lot of your small communities, they’re able to access funding, whether it’s water, waste water, drinking water, sewer. And even fire departments and the EMS funding, a lot of that is able to come through the Rural Development title of the farm bill.”

He tells Brownfield cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act fractured the farm bill coalition in Congress.

“So it will be a struggle, but I guess we don’t give up (because) we still need a farm bill. So a lot of it will be putting the pieces back together and how you can restore some of that SNAP funding will probably have to be part of it to be able to get a coalition together to actually pass a farm bill.”

The current farm bill has been extended multiple times, most recently through September 30^th, 2026, as part of a government funding bill passed last month.