U.S. Rep. Mike Flood says December is ‘best case scenario’ for passage of farm bill

Agricultural producers hoping to see Congress pass a farm bill will likely have to wait until the end of the year, according to U.S. Rep. Mike Flood.

The congressman, who represents Nebraska’s 1st District, said avoiding a government shutdown is the first priority for Congress, as the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. He said that will require negotiations with Democrats to put a budget together and ensure the government is funded.

“If we can find compromise on that, we can pass a farm bill,” Flood said. “If we can't compromise and the Democrats won't come to the table on funding the government, I don't have a lot of hope for the farm bill in the short term.”

Congress has passed 18 omnibus agricultural policy bills, commonly known as farm bills, since 1933. That’s approximately one every five years. The most recent farm bill was passed in 2018.

The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ Congress passed in July includes several farm bill provisions, including an extension of commodity support programs, updates to crop insurance, funding for conservation programs and trade promotion.

However, many industry leaders are asking for a so-called "Farm Bill 2.0" or "Skinny Farm Bill" to address issues that weren’t included in the "Big, Beautiful Bill."

Only four of the 12 sections in the 2018 farm bill were updated through the July budget reconciliation.

Last week, hundreds of organizations from across the country, including the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts, Nebraska Corn Growers Association and the Nebraska Farm Bureau, sent a letter to the majority and minority leaders of the U.S. House and Senate, urging them to prioritize the development and passage of a farm bill.

“While vital provisions to ensure long-term stability and competitiveness for U.S. agriculture were included in the budget reconciliation bill, it cannot and should not be a substitute for a full Farm Bill. The full suite of programs across all Farm Bill titles are essential to the viability of our agricultural system and rural communities,” it read.

John Hansen, the president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, said he’d like to see a new farm bill include the year-round authorization of E-15 fuel, mandatory country of origin labeling and policy aimed at expanding the domestic use of biofuels.

“It's not just updating what's already there,” he said. “It's also looking at the farm bill and saying, ‘What do we need to do to help Nebraska's number one industry?’”

Flood said he hopes to have a farm bill passed by the end of the year.

“There's a big case that can be made for passing a full farm bill, and my hope would be get through this government funding situation, and then in December, get the farm bill done,” he said. “That would be best-case scenario from where I sit.”

For Hansen, that’s not soon enough.

As harvest season approaches, most row crop farmers in Nebraska will lose money from their fields. Hansen said the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s estimated market price for corn is $3.90 per bushel, while the estimated cost of production was $4.80. For soybeans, the market price is $10.10, while the production cost was $11.80.

“I've characterized it as the worst economic downturn since the mid-1980s and I'm a survivor of the 1980s, barely,” he said. “We're in a pretty desperate financial situation.”

Hansen said he met with Flood and USDA officials in Washington last week to make his case.

Other members of Nebraska’s federal delegation have said they are working on provisions they hope to see included in an upcoming farm bill.

Sen. Deb Fischer reintroduced a Precision Ag Package in May, aimed at helping farmers purchase precision agriculture equipment and extending rural broadband access through USDA grants and loans.

Speaking in Dorchester earlier this month, 3rd District Rep. Adrian Smith said he’s working to put more resources into farm bill policies to promote international trade.

And Rep. Don Bacon, who represents the 2nd District, introduced legislation to track and combat foreign ownership of U.S. farmland.

The 2018 farm bill has an expiration date of Sept. 30, following one-year extensions in 2023 and 2024. Another extension could be passed, but Hansen said a failure to update and improve parts of the income safety net could spell financial ruin for Nebraska farmers.

“We're already seeing some farm loans that did not get renewed last spring and farmers have been, unfortunately, dipping into their equity to be able to augment cash flows,” he said. “You can only dip into equity so many times before your banker or your spouse looks at that and says, ‘We're losing all the equity that we worked for all these years.’”