Oct 1, 2018Farm Bill expires, House and Senate still divided
The current Farm Bill expired on Sunday, Sept. 30, as the conference committee was unable to work out key differences between the House and Senate versions for new legislation. Without further action by Congress, the National Potato Council (NPC) said, elements of U.S. agricultural policy will either cease functioning or revert to their historical predecessors as crops begin their individual 2019 year over the next few months.
“Unfortunately it has been several decades since the Farm Bill was passed on time, so this isn’t the end of the world,” said John Keeling, NPC CEO, in the lead-up to the expiration. “We are optimistic that the opportunity to get a bill done exists between now and December. It is not in producers’ interest to drag this into a new Congress and have to start all over again.”
The major points of contention that have prevented a new Farm Bill from becoming law are largely in the nutrition title of the two bills, though unresolved issues involving payment limits, conservation and specialty crops also exist.
On the latter issue, it is still undecided whether the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) will be funded as intended at $80 million, or at the substantially lower figure of $55 million, the NPC said. Currently, over 30 percent of SCRI is dedicated to the citrus industry but their “carve-out” is due to expire at the end of September.
The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, of which the NPC is a member, is strongly urging Congress to hold to the agreement made during the 2014 Farm Bill negotiations to fully fund SCRI. In support of that position, the Alliance sent a joint letter to all members of the conference outlining their needs for an enhanced Specialty Crop Research Initiative along with maintaining funding for citrus disease research.
The Alliance said it is also pushing for full funding and program enhancements for export programs as the U.S. is dealing with substantial volatility in global trade. Also, a number of regulatory reform items remain undecided and are supported by the Alliance membership.
