Why is the Farm Bill Being Delayed?
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Ag professionals anticipated a new Farm Bill to come out in 2023, but negotiations are moving slower than expected. Texas A&M Professor Dr. Bart Fischer says this isn’t the first time the Farm Bill has been delayed, and that’s because of changing market conditions and discussions on what should be cut or remain the same.
Fischer... "In the case of agriculture, the argument all along has been, well, we need to do this every five years to stay current, right, to keep up with the times. You know, that has been the impetus behind doing these five-year omnibus farm bills, because without them we’ll revert, you know, the threat of reverting to parity prices under permanent legislation. And so, to some degree, the timing is a function of how these have been set up, you know, for almost 100 years now, right? And it's every five years we go through this exercise and, you know, the ag economy is constantly changing. You have constant pressure in the countryside, changing dynamics. You want the farm bill to be reflective of that. Unfortunately, I think the last several cycles has been more reflective of, well, how do we, you know, how can we cut or do with less? And I would much prefer to come at it from a perspective of what risk management tools do farmers really need to stay in business out on the countryside and to keep our country fed. And so you've got those two things in conflict right now and you see it playing out. It makes it very, very difficult to get farm bills done.
Dr. Fischer spent eight years at the House Ag Committee before teaching ag policy at Texas A&M.
