By Clint Thompson
The chances of an extension to the 2018 Farm Bill increases every day that legislative leaders fail to pass a new one. That is the outlook shared by Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, who spoke on the subject last Tuesday.
“Each day that goes by without a speaker, without a budget and without a Farm Bill, the likelihood of an extension grows,” Vilsack said.
That likelihood has almost morphed into a foregone conclusion, since it is nearly a month since the 2018 legislation has expired. Since there is a lack of a Speaker of the House following the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, issues like the budget and a new Farm Bill are put on hold. The question now becomes how long will that extension last?
Adam Rabinowitz, Alabama Extension economist, expects an extension of the current Farm Bill to be in place by the end of December. Without an extension by the end of the calendar year, it would lead to certain policies that would revert back to the 1940s.
The Farm Bill is a piece of legislation that is scheduled to be renewed every five years. President Trump signed the Farm Bill into law on Dec. 20, 2018. But it expired at the end of September.
The 2018 Farm Bill totaled $800 billion. The next Farm Bill is expected to approach $1.5 trillion, according to Rabinowitz.