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Momentum raises farm bill optimism, slightly

The director of the Gardner Agriculture Policy Program at the University of Illinois says he’s slightly more optimistic about Congress passing a new farm bill.

Jonathan Coppess tells Brownfield…

“So getting that starting point can be a driver of momentum and that’s important.”  He says, “But look, my optimism is minimal and there’s a lot of clouds on the horizon because of this SNAP issue, the reference price issue, the scoring challenges.  There’s a lot there to still be worked out.”

He says both the House and Senate frameworks seem to agree on conservation funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act.

“There’s long been this set of rumors that the House is going to rescind that money and use it for other programs, in particular the price loss coverage program.”  He says, “At least in the chairman’s summary, he is not looking to move that into title one or anywhere else but was looking to reinvest it into those conservation programs. So that is a really positive potential coming together point.”

But he says another fight over food assistance (SNAP) programs is looming.

“Again.”  He says, “Knowing that it’s opposed by Democrats, knowing that they need democratic votes to move the bill, and knowing that the last two farm bills have temporarily been derailed over fighting about cutting funding for SNAP.”

Coppess says the proposals address the reference price issue in different ways, and he predicts potential disagreements over the crops proposed to see increases.  He expects further details to be released soon.

The House Ag Committee has announced plans to vote on a farm bill on May 23^rd.  No vote announcement has been made in the Senate.

The current farm bill extension expires at the end of September.