The 2014 Farm Bill Expired. Now What?
For over a year, the agriculture industry has implored Congress to act before September 30, 2018 to assure a new, five-year guarantee for the nation’s agricultural policy. However, that deadline came and went over the weekend, so what now? Actually, many programs receive appropriated funds beyond the authorized period. A handful of programs (39, to be exact) do not have a budget baseline beyond September 30th, and this list of programs can be found in the attached CRS report. The programs with baseline funding will continue through December 2018, which is when U.S. agriculture will really start to sweat.
The chief negotiators still remain in gridlock over several titles within the Farm Bill, including nutrition, conservation, and commodities. The leadership from the agriculture committees of both chambers continue to wrestle with specific disagreements within these titles. Florida Representatives Ted Yoho and Neal Dunn serve on the Farm Bill Conference Committee, where they continue to advocate for Florida agriculture and advance our priorities.
Florida Farm Bureau reminds our delegation regularly of the importance of getting this bill done soon to provide needed certainty to our industry.
View the Congressional Research Service Report “Farm Bill Programs Without a Budget Baseline Beyond FY2018”.
