Leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees completed a proposal for the next farm bill and presented it to the deficit reduction Supercommittee, but the deal was contingent on the committee reaching an agreement by Congress’s self-imposed deadline.
Without an agreed-to deficit reduction plan, the Ag Committees will again be responsible for writing the five year agriculture plan. Pennsylvania Congressmen Glenn Thompson and Tim Holden are the chairman and ranking member of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry with significant input on funding for soil, water, and resource conservation, small watershed programs, energy and biobased energy production, rural electrification, forestry and forest reserves.
Farm Bill debates are often extremely difficult, with programs ranging from ag energy to school food and nutrition programs. This is highly problematic for the agriculture community because any proposal is subject to a slew of amendments from lawmakers, many of whom do not support farm program funding.