News

Ag Committee leaders ‘still at the negotiating table’

House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders Pat Roberts, Michael Conaway, Debbie Stabenow and Collin Peterson met Wednesday, continuing to talk about the farm bill. Most people doubt a deal can be reached before the 2014 Farm Bill expires Sunday.

“Whether we get an extension, or whether we come back after the midterm [elections], I can’t profess to that, but we will not have a new farm bill before the September 30 deadline,” said Craig Hill, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau. Hill was speaking on 2018 Fall Ag Roundtable broadcast from Brownfield Ag News affiliate KWPC Radio in Muscatine, Iowa Tuesday.

“It’s very unlikely, in fact, I think it’s nearly improbable that we will get a new farm bill before that expiration date,” Hill said.

In a statement released at the completion of the Wednesday meeting, House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders said that “[e]ach of us is still at the negotiating table, and we remain committed to working together on a Farm Bill. Our conversations are productive, and progress toward an agreement is taking shape. We are going to get this right.”

An article in AgriPulse quotes Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts saying that with the House out of session in October, it will be difficult to enact a new bill until after the midterm elections in November.