Farm Bill Talks Start Up Again Next Week [Oct. 30]

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Negotiations on the nation’s five-year farm bill are expected to resume next week. Members of the House and Senate agriculture committees are expected to reconcile the differences between the two competing versions of the proposed legislation.

The 1,000-page legislation covers food and farm policies. Progress on reaching a new farm bill has been stalled due to partisan divides over cuts to the food stamp program. Lawmakers from the two chambers will reconvene Wednesday, Oct. 30 to begin negotiating the bill.

While the two bills propose similar reforms to the farm program portion of the bill, such as eliminating direct payments, there are a number of obstacles that need to be overcome. Perhaps the biggest difference is cuts to the food stamp program. The Republican-controlled House has proposed a $40 billion cut to the nutrition program over 10 years, while the Democrat-led Senate propose a $4.5 billion cut.

Congress has until Jan. 1 to pass a new farm bill, otherwise parts of the policy will revert back to the 1940s law.