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2023 Farm Bill could be partisan

The farm bill is often referred to as bipartisan legislation.  But a policy specialist suggests that might not be the case for the next iteration.

Randy Russell of government relations firm the Russell Group says nutrition will make up nearly 85 percent of spending in the 2023 Farm Bill.

“This farm bill is going to be extremely difficult.”

He says the 2023 Farm Bill could cost upwards of $1.3 trillion.

“That’s with a ‘t.’ That’s even big in Washington, trillion dollars.”

And with only a handful of rural districts represented in Congress, Russell says compromise will be central to passing another farm bill.

“Between production agriculture and the nutrition community, it’s that simple. You can’t get a bill passed through the House of Representatives without that coalition given the fact we only have 35 rural districts.”

Russell made these comments during the Minnesota AgriGrowth Ag and Food Summit in Minneapolis on Thursday.