SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – With talk of a new farm bill recently rekindled in the House of Representatives, Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.), chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, is the scheduled keynote speaker for the Illinois Pork Producers Association’s (IPPA) inaugural “Swine Mixer” event, Feb. 17 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield. Thompson re-ignited hope for a farm bill when he briefed GOP lawmakers on the bill during a recent member meeting.

Though Thompson’s farm bill text still hasn’t been formally introduced, it is expected to have similar priorities to a version that advanced out of committee in May 2024 but never became law, according to Capitol Hill news source Politico. As of press time for Farm World, House Ag Committee staff was still awaiting cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.

Also, according to Politico, “House Ag Republicans have said they are hoping to get a floor vote on the bill before the chamber recesses for Easter, according to two of the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss private details. The most expensive GOP farm bill priorities – like bolstering commodity and crop insurance programs – were already included in the One Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) Act, paid for by slashing food aid spending.”

Jennifer Tirey, IPPA executive director, had engaged Thompson to speak to pig farmers at the group’s Swine Mixer (taking the place of the long-running Illinois Pork Expo) prior to his announcement that a House-led farm bill could soon be forthcoming. Tirey told Farm World that the pork industry will be especially interested in what Thompson has to say about California’s Proposition 12, which standardizes swine housing size requirements. Tirey and leaders of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) are lobbying for language within the farm bill that would grant states the power to determine their own animal confinement standards and regulations.

“Our biggest ask in the farm bill will be a solution to Prop 12, which Congressman Thompson is in support of as well,” Tirey said in an email. She pointed to a recent Capital Update from the NPPC reporting that Thompson told his Republican colleagues he hopes to mark up a farm bill during the week of Feb. 23. 

“Thompson said he’s aiming for a vote by the entire House before Congress takes a two week-plus break around Easter. A new farm bill has not been approved since 2018. That one expired Sept. 30, 2023, and has been extended several times,” the NPPC update stated, in part.

NPPC had advocated for a number of additional farm bill priorities that were addressed largely to the Council’s satisfaction in the BBB Act signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025. Those priorities included preserving necessary resources to protect the nation’s food supply through foreign animal disease prevention, maintaining market access programs for U.S. pork, maintaining resources for the feral swine eradication program to protect herd health and a number of tax-related issues relating to deductions, depreciation and estate transfer.

“We look forward to continuing to work with congressional partners this year on a ‘skinny’ farm bill, which should include measures to prevent a patchwork of conflicting state farming regulations and bring further certainty to the pork industry,” said 2025 NPPC President Duane Stateler, a pork producer from McComb, Ohio, upon the BBB’s passage.

The “farm bill 2.0,” as Thompson has called the potential legislation, will address “leftover” industry priorities not covered by the BBB, such as rural development and research plans, according to Politico. In addition, “Thompson says this second farm bill could be the legislative vehicle to advance ag priorities like E15 and additional farmer aid, which weren’t included in recent spending bills,” Brownfield Ag News reported.

For more information on the Illinois Swine Mixer, which is a private event for IPPA members and invited industry guests, contact Jackie Wible of the IPPA at jackie@ilpork.com.