Farm bill expires again. Here’s what it means for farmers.

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Dive Brief:

• The farm bill has once again expired, as a yearlong extension of the massive agricultural spending package ended on Monday night without congressional action.

• Deep political division over fundamental pillars of the bill, including funding for crop insurance, climate-smart agriculture and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, continue to delay the passage.

• The delay upends some of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s farm conservation and trade promotion programs while setting up potentially bigger and costlier disruptions beginning at the end of the year. 

Dive Insight:

Two years have now passed since the 2018 farm bill expired. Congressional leaders have signaled that they are looking to consider the more than $1 trillion bill later this year, after the election and during the lame duck session.

New enrollments for some of the USDA’s bedrock conservation programs expired along with the farm bill Monday night, including the Conservation Reserve Program, livestock projects under the EQIP program and the Grassland Conservation Incentive.

Trade promotion programs could also be impacted, according to an outline from the Congressional Research Service, including the Market Access Program and others to help producers diversify their exports.

Most of the expiration’s effects won’t be felt until the beginning of next year, when authorization for subsidy programs revert back to 1938 and 1949 farm bills, or what’s known as “permanent law.” At that point, government programs would provide sizable payouts to commodities such as dairy, while ending safety nets for soy, peanuts and sugar in a move that would upend U.S. food prices.

Agricultural groups have become more vocal about the need for a farm bill before the end of the year and the reversion back to permanent law. Farms have struggled with declining incomes and lower levels of government support over the past few years, and are pushing for more certainty around safety net and trade promotion programs.

“Given the enormous challenges facing production agriculture – including a farm economy that has taken a downward spiral – it is imperative Congress act before year’s end to strengthen farm policy for America’s farmers,” more than 300 farm groups wrote to House and Senate leaders.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries last week called out the agricultural spending package as one of Democrats’ top three priorities for the lame duck session, saying “it will be important to see if we can find a path forward and reauthorize the farm bill in order to make sure we can meet the needs of farmers, meet the needs of everyday Americans, and also continue the progress we’ve been able to make in terms of combating the climate crisis.”