Despite Late Start AFBF Believes Farm Bill Will Be Addressed in 2018

Work on the 2018 Farm Bill is already some three-months late, and it’s likely to get even later, according to farm lobbyists.  Farm Bill work was originally sidelined last year by the GOP tax bill.  Now, keeping the government funded, healthcare, immigration and security issues are immediate concerns for Congress.  American Farm Bureau Federation public policy executive director Dale Moore is confident a new Farm Bill will get done by the September 30^th, but says the public writing of a new bill may have to wait a bit longer.

“If I had to make a prediction, I think they’re going to let the State of the Union get out of the way, they are going to let the budget process roll out a little bit more.  But I’m figuring sometime between mid to late February into early March we’re going to get some very clear signals that it’s time to get saddled up and start working on the Farm Bill.”

Moore said election year politics and the need to give farmers program-certainly will be key in speeding the process along.

“We certainly have heard that from both committees, leadership on both sides of the isle that they want to provide certainty for farmers, and I’m certain the election year politics will make for an interesting drop and give us some other things to talk about as this year rolls along and we get a new Farm Bill done.”

AFBF said key areas of attention in this Farm Bill include: crop insurance support, food stamps, dairy margin protection, payment limits, PLC reference prices, and ARC payment timing.  But Moore said he does not anticipate any large scale changes.

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