SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The timing for the Feb. 17 visit by U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson to the annual meeting of the Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) in Springfield couldn’t have been more fortuitous. “Farm Bill 2.0 was officially introduced last week, and it is vital for our ag economy that it becomes law soon,” Thompson told a packed conference room of around 200 farmers, elected officials and media at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.

The Pennsylvania Republican, who leads a House Ag Committee that includes Illinois Democrat Nikki Budzinski and Republican Mike Bost, detailed the thought processes and bipartisan teamwork the committee exhibited in drafting their proposed Farm Bill 2.0, which at press time was scheduled to be “marked up” by the committee Feb. 23. He began by stating that he and various committee members visited producers in 43 states and one territory, including Illinois a “number of times,” gathering input for the legislation. Thompson added that work on a new farm bill is already around 20 percent complete via measures and appropriations for agriculture contained in President Donald Trump’s 2025 One Big, Beautiful Bill (BBB).

“We’ve done this (House farm bill) from a perspective of legislating from the outside-in, which is a little different from what normally happens. Washington typically does this kind of thing from the inside-out,” he said. This approach came because the committee sees agriculture as anything but typical, according to Thompson, who earlier in the day was hosted by the Illinois Farm Bureau during its annual legislative meeting at the Bank of Springfield Center.

“We work on your behalf,” he told the IPPA farmers. “We work on behalf of Illinois and America’s number one industry, which is agriculture. That’s why we took the show on the road and came out to America’s farms and ranches and sat down and talked to people.”

The House Ag Committee’s 802-page Farm Bill 2.0, or “skinny” farm bill, was crafted using a “three-legged” approach, Thompson said, by considering input from Republicans, Democrats and the agricultural community. It includes some updated language and provisions from a similar farm bill version advanced by the Committee in 2024 that did not become law.

“Producers are currently operating under 2018 policies, and it’s just a fact that 2018 policies are no match for 2026 challenges. Honestly, there is no better example of that than California’s Proposition 12 and the issues it is causing the swine industry,” said Thompson, striking immediately on the IPPA and National Pork Producers Council’s stated top legislative priority for 2026.

“Like the farm bill that we passed out of the Committee in 2024, the ‘Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026’ includes a fix for Prop 12, and I call it the ‘Save the Bacon’ provision. Prop 12 is, at its core, a regulatory overreach by the state of California. It’s rooted in political science, not animal science. We believe hog farmers know their animals best when it comes to animal health and safety. At the end of the day, it is not common sense to let a small percentage of California voters (less than 10 percent of eligible Californians cast a vote on the issue in an off-year election) to (decide national policy) on animal health or anything like that,” he added.

The committee’s Farm Bill 2.0 includes significant investments in animal health research and prevention programs, Thompson continued. “Through the Working Families Tax Cut that went into law with the BBB, which I like to call Farm Bill 1.0 because it includes so many farm bill programs, Congress invested $2 billion into programs that prevent infectious (animal) diseases such as foot and mouth disease, New World screwworm, African swine fever and highly pathogenic avian influenza. Keeping our livestock herds healthy is one our main priorities,” he said, adding that a lot of issues remained from the BBB to be solved by Farm Bill 2.0.

“Trade promotion programs, market access programs and foreign market development programs (are addressed in Farm Bill 2.0),” Thompson said. “Why are we going there? Because every time I came to Illinois you told me that’s what we needed to do.”

Without delving into specifics, Thompson noted that the House farm bill also addresses a number of other diverse issues from rural health care access to environmental brownfields, microplastics and “forever” chemicals in soils.

“With that in mind I want you to know that your voice matters, and you have a role to play in getting a new farm bill across the line,” the House Ag Chairman said. “The Ag Committee is marking up this bill next week and we need our entire congressional body spurred to action. I want you to call your representative and talk to them or a staffer, focusing first on those on the Ag Committee, but also including other congressional members. Write letters of support, send emails and tell your story to help people to understand why the farm bill matters so much to our producers.”

Also present for Thompson’s speech were Illinois Republican Reps. Darrin LaHood and Mary Miller; Budzinski and Bost were not present. Thompson was the featured speaker at the IPPA’s first “Swine Mixer” event following IPPA’s annual meeting, during which Katie Brown took the gavel from Josh Maschhoff after being elected to serve as 2026-2027 IPPA president.