Once again, we are fast approaching another expiration for the Farm Bill. The critical legislation was last passed in 2018 and has since been extended twice. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of optimism that lawmakers can cobble together a new bill before the upcoming September 30, 2025, deadline, and most think Congress will once again end up kicking it further down the road.
Lawmakers included some farm and nutrition policies in the “Big, Beautiful Bill” (BBB) passed earlier this year. At the time, leaders in Congress touted plans to follow up with a “skinny farm bill” to fill gaps that the BBB didn’t address. Both chambers of Congress are now back from their August breaks, but it doesn’t sound like they accomplished much beforehand. A spokesman for House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., said the text “is still being worked through at the staff level, and August recess has complicated the timeline.”
Ag Committee aides note that a skinny bill will be less complicated than a full-scale Farm Bill; Congress also has a lot on its plate. Lawmakers’ top priority this month is passing funding bills that are needed to prevent a government shutdown on October 1. Insiders also remind that there is a lot of tension between lawmakers following the passage of the BBB, in which Republicans made $186 billion worth of cuts to SNAP programs to the strong objection of Democrats.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley thinks any kind of Farm Bill is unlikely before 2026. Aside from funding legislation taking up much of lawmakers’ time, Grassley points out that there are week-long breaks during both September and October, along with time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the last two months of the year. “Hopefully, we get it done this year, but I don’t see the chairman of the Committee working in that direction,” Grassley told Brownfield Ag.
Ag groups are urging lawmakers to use a skinny farm bill to tackle issues not addressed in the BBB, including the Conservation Reserve Program and USDA broadband programs, along with provisions regarding biofuels, farm loans, farm labor, trade, and taxes, and a legislative fix for individual states’ animal welfare laws, such as California’s “Proposition 12.” Ag stakeholders like the American Farm Bureau also point out that the boost to farm safety-net programs and recent disaster assistance provided much-needed, but only short-term support. Shoring up the agricultural economy and reducing farmer uncertainty requires longer-term solutions that only a full Farm Bill can provide.
Democratic lawmakers have already made it clear that any Farm Bill negotiations will need to include restoration of at least some of the funding cuts to SNAP made in the BBB. Democrats are also looking to restore funding for some research programs cut under the BBB, such as the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE), and codify into law the national network of regional climate hubs. These issues are also sure to draw strong pushback from Republicans.
To be clear, a skinny Farm Bill would not be a substitute for a full legislative package. Lawmakers have framed it as a way to fill the gaps temporarily until they can pass a comprehensive update. However, if Congress can’t even get a slimmed-down version passed in 2025, some lawmakers are questioning the purpose of continuing to pursue it over a fully fleshed-out Farm Bill next year. Opponents of a skinny bill also dislike having traditional Farm Bill issues spread across numerous pieces of legislation, which they feel leaves too many gaps and less room for negotiation. On the other hand, those that support a skinny bill say that most issues were already addressed in the BBB so there is not much left to put into a full Farm Bill. (Sources: American Farm Bureau, Brownfield Ag, FarmdocDaily, Agri-Pulse)
