WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD NEWS) — Work on the next Farm Bill is moving forward in Washington. The legislation has cleared the House Agriculture Committee and is now headed to the full House floor. Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson says the bill was built with bipartisan input.
“Eighty-two percent of the marker bills had bipartisan co-sponsors — so out of 181 marker bills, there were 141 bills that were solidly bipartisan to start with — and that’s important,” Thompson said. “Now, you know, we had some bills and some amendments that were offered that maybe just weren’t quite right. They were going to violate the role of a budget-neutral Farm Bill, or they would cause harm to the agriculture industry. But, myself and my team, we’re willing to work with those members and try to refine. We worked very hard to refine those amendments so that we could find a place for them within this farm bill. And that’s the way the process should be
Thompson had originally hoped to bring the bill to a House floor vote by Easter, but says that timeline may shift. He emphasizes the need to move quickly to finalize agricultural policy.
Meanwhile, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials say they are ready to help lawmakers finalize the legislation if needed.
USDA Under Secretary Richard Fordyce says the department stands ready to provide technical assistance if Congress requests it.
“I think maybe looking at, potentially, some loan limits on the FSA loan side, maybe some participation terms related to loans, interested to see what that’s going to look like,” Fordyce said. “And there are some other things in there. Don’t know what they might do related to some CRP things, but certainly interested to see and very, very supportive, encouraging Congress to be able to get that mini farm bill done. Because I think it’s important for the country. I think it’s important for the industry that we do have a farm bill. Whether they addressed a lot of those kinds of big-ticket items in the one big beautiful bill, still having a farm bill, which is thelaw of the land for agricultural policy for the next five years.”
Fordyce also highlighted USDA’s “One Farmer, One File” initiative, which aims to streamline paperwork and improve efficiency for producers interacting with the department.
