AFBF Hopeful Lawmakers Will Now Look At The Farm Bill

The American Farm Bureau Federation is looking past Tuesday’s election in hopes it might improve prospects for a new Farm Bill.  Farm Bureau Director of Government Affairs Joe Gilson said getting the election out of the way could be a plus for AFBF’s top priority, which is an updated, modernized farm bill.

“Well, I think it always helps when you can get past an election for politics to be taken out, and a focus can be on policy.”

A presidential election year is never the best time to do a farm bill, Gilson noted.  And that’s been the case much of this year as the two parties have retreated to their corners to fight for key farm bill constituencies.  While some questions about Congress and the White House were cleared up Tuesday, many other questions remain.  And Gilson pointed out that crops and livestock don’t live by the political clock.  And for some, the clock has already struck midnight.

“So, we’re just going to continue to make the point that farmers have waited two years for a farm bill, and that hasn’t gotten done, regardless of the political outcomes.”

Outcomes, he pointed out, that may still have to be sorted out with a new Congress and new administration in the new year.

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