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Flood says skinny farm bill faces rocky road ahead

A U.S. Congressman says a scaled back version of the farm bill faces an uphill battle in Washington.

Mike Flood, a Republican from Nebraska, says reaching an agreement on government funding before October 1 is the main priority for lawmakers. “If we end up in a protracted, long government funding fight where there’s a shutdown, I’m not very hopeful for the future of a farm bill.”

He tells Brownfield it could be December before the legislation gets finalized. “I think that’s the best case scenario.”

Flood says the farm bill could be a vehicle to deliver some form of financial assistance. “This will be after our harvest and we’re going to know what the price of corn and soybeans will be, our commodity programs. That is also a good time to have a discussion if we need to put economic aid in there to help save the family farms, ranches and the people that work in agriculture.”

He says a skinny farm bill should continue to strengthen crop insurance programs, Title I programs and boost funding for ag research. “We were able to get a lot of funding for those programs in the One Big Beautiful Bill, in fact, $9 billion year-over-year, and we need to cut the bureaucratic weight. Farmers know best how to raise crops. Let’s make it easier for them to do that.”  

 Flood says it could also be an opportunity to attach year-round E15 sales.

Congressman Mike Flood: