Farm Bill Enters Final Stretch, But Not Expected To Offer Tariff Relief

The final push for a 2018 Farm Bill is expected to start next week, but any relief for producers from tariff retaliation will have to wait.  American Farm Bureau’s Andrew Walmsley expects some movement on the Farm Bill to start very soon.

“We’ll probably see a conferees announced, my expectation, although we haven’t seen anything official, here shortly once they get back from recess in the middle of July, but staff can start working immediately.  We have plenty of time to work through differences, hopefully we’ll get a conference report put together, and back through both chambers and on to the President’s desk before October."

But, while lawmakers and producers have one-eye on the farm bill, they have the other on tariff disputes.  The Ag Community is waiting to see how tariffs by China, Mexico, Canada, and the EU, set to go in affect this month, will impact the bottom line.  Walmsley says when it comes to the trade war, Farm Bill really won’t offer any help.

“You’ve seen some of the leaders in the House and Seante point to some of the authorities that the USDA currently has to maybe mitigate some of the impacts to trade, but I think it’s all our hope that the Administration is successful in their negotiations on trade that we get a better deal.”

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said his timeline is to let producers know what kind of government tariff relief they can expect by Labor Day.  Until then, crop and livestock producers continue to hemorrhage hundreds of millions, or even billions, in losses from foreign tariffs and the impact of their threat on futures markets.

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