Serious negotiations are necessary on the new agricultural law

News

Serious negotiations are necessary on the new agricultural law

Farm lobbyist Randy Russell says there hasn’t been much progress on a new farm bill in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

“Ultimately, management has to come into the room and each of them give a little if we are going to reach a compromise.”

Russell says House Agriculture Committee leadership is still trying to gain bipartisan support for the bill passed in committee last month, and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders have differing views on how to fund more farms under the farm bill.

He said there are three areas of the bill that require compromise, starting with the nutrition title, then the “$20 billion in the inflation control bill, and third, Title One updates crop insurance and reference prices, where they are material,” the updates are proposed.

He says there are only a few legislative days left in October and it’s likely the current farm bill will need another extension.

And while a new farm bill may pass in Lame Duck’s December session of Congress, “what happens there depends on who is in the White House and who controls the Senate and House after the election.”

Russell is an agriculture lobbyist for the Russell Group in Washington.