In a recent article titled “It’s not as far off as you think, work on the 2018 Farm Bill“, the Farm Press‘s Hembree Brandon discusses the upcoming Farm Bill and how soon organizations need to act in order to get their point of view heard by the law makers that are framing the agricultural legislation.
It’s not as far off as you think, work on the 2018 Farm Bill
According to Brandon, Lawmakers’ approach to the 2014 farm bill was an effort to spend as little as possible, as opposed to creating programs to truly help farmers and rural America.
While many in agriculture are still trying to fathom the complexities of the 2014 farm bill and its implementation, members of Congress and ag sector leaders are already laying preliminary groundwork for the 2018 farm bill.”
With a dramatic drop in net farm income from the highs of 2013, and projections that outlays for the current legislation will be billions over budget, it’s expected that debate on the next bill will be contentious.
“A perfect storm is brewing in debate on the 2018 farm bill that includes all types of conflicting fiscal and policy issues…”—The Cansler Report
“There is a lot of work to accomplish and, frankly, very little time to do it amidst a dysfunctional legislative branch,” says an analysis by Cansler Consulting. “If Congress continues its typical schedule of an average 118 legislative days per year, as of Sept. 30, we estimate there are about 224 legislative days remaining until a farm bill needs to be adopted for a timely transition.”

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