News

Farm bill extension coming

A U.S. Congressman from Missouri says an extension of the current farm bill is coming as disagreements about government funding continue against an end-of-the-month deadline.

“The active talk is the farm bill extension and how long it will be.”

Mark Alford, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, says the farm bill will be a priority after a continuing resolution is passed. He says lawmakers need more time to work through the farm bill and get it through the House.

“We’re going to need two weeks. That includes one to get through the rules process and another week for debate input on the floor,” he says. “It depends on the floor time we get from leadership and I think the best case scenario is going to be mid-November on that. The last thing we want is for this to go through January.”

He says House Speaker Kevin McCarthy understands the importance of passing a farm bill this year. Alford tells Brownfield he has not seen a draft of the bill, but he is optimistic more money can be found to update the commodities title, research and trade promotion programs.