PEORIA, Ill. — A University of Illinois farm bill historian and Extension ag educator told a group of farmers gathered for the 42nd Greater Peoria Farm Show (GPFS) what they’d already expected to be true: there will be no new farm bill any time soon and an extension to the 2018 Farm Bill will likely occur by Dec. 20. According to Extension commercial agriculture educator Reagan Tibbs, this is because the two versions of farm policy legislation stalled in the House and Senate contain ideologically and fiscally opposing proposals and philosophies, with key divisive issues including price reference points for crop insurance payments, trade investment, conservation program spending and funding for the farm bill’s nutrition title. 

“Since May 31 the House version, the Farm, Food and National Security Act, has been sitting on the House calendar — they haven’t really focused on it,” said Tibbs, who serves the Illinois counties of Logan, Menard and Sangamon. “Obviously one of the biggest discussions is around the commodity title, Title 1. This is where we’re seeing a lot of agricultural groups calling for an increase in statutory reference prices, which really haven’t changed much since the 2014 Farm Bill.”

The House bill, HR 8467, calls for an increase in statutory reference prices for all covered commodities including corn from $3.70 to $4.10 per acre, soybeans from $8.40 per acre to $10 per acre and wheat from $5.50 per acre to $6.35 per acre. This is a 10 to 20 percent increase for all covered commodities. 

In addition, the House version, which is estimated to cost around $30 billion over the next decade, allows for a temporary increase in the amount of base acres for producers not currently holding ARC and PLC crop insurance. It also increases funding for the Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development Program. 

The Senate version of the farm bill (S.7335), valued at $20 billion but as yet unfiled, calls for just a 5 percent increase in statutory reference prices across the board. As in the House, debate over conservation title spending is lending to the bill’s gridlock in the Senate. Also included in the Senate farm bill proposal is around $4.5 billion in spending on rural community economic development. 

“Probably the biggest reason we haven’t seen action on the farm bill in both the House and the Senate is conservation. Remember two years ago Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which gave a lot of money to the Commodities Credit Corporation (CCC) to implement various conservation programs around climate-smart agriculture. The House has decided that rather than allow the IRA funding to stick with the CCC they are going to cut that funding, with a lot of that money used to pay for the increase in reference prices in Title 1,” Tibbs explained. 

With Congress recessing for the year on December 20, Tibbs predicts the two sides will vote to extend the 2018 Farm Bill and kick the can to the new general assembly when it convenes in January. He doesn’t see House budget-hawks approving a $30 billion spending bill. If it were to garner 218 votes and pass the House, HR 8467 would face trouble in Senate markup and likely end up in a combined House-Senate conference committee to work out the differences in the bill proposals.

“The likelihood of there being a brand new farm bill this year I think is pretty much out of the question,” Tibbs told those who attended his seminar on December 4, the second day of the GPFS. “The prevailing thought across Washington is that there will be an extension of the farm bill by December 20. So we will take the 2018 Farm Bill framework which was extended and applies to the 2024 crop year and extend it to cover the 2025 crop year. At the end of the 2025 crop year there will be a new farm bill.”

The chance for passage of a new farm bill once the 119th Congress is seated is likely greater than under the present legislative dynamic, according to Tibbs. “It just comes down to where a new farm bill is going to land on their list of priorities. Honestly, I don’t think that anyone knows just what those priorities are going to be, but a farm bill may not be the highest priority or one of the very first things to get passed in 2025.”

Tibbs is the author of a “Farm Focus” Extension two-part blog series that delves into the evolution of the Farm Bill, exploring its origins, key milestones, and the broader U.S. agricultural policies that have influenced its development. Part one, which explores the history of the Farm Bill from the early days of U.S. agricultural policy through the Great Depression and the New Deal, was published on December 6. Its context will set the stage for part two, which will compare 2024 Farm Bill proposals from the U.S. House and Senate and discuss their potential impacts on the future of American agriculture. 

Tibbs’ Farm Focus Blog, “A Century of Change: Tracing the History of the Farm Bill, Part One,” can be viewed at extension.illinois.edu/blogs/farm-focus/2024-12-06-century-change-tracing-history-farm-bill-part-one.