Feedstuffs magazine reports:
On Friday, House Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson released the full text of his farm bill proposal. The Ag committee will consider the legislation, formally known as the “Food, Farm and National Security Act of 2024”, during a May 23 markup session. If it clears the committee, where Republicans hold the majority, the bill will then potentially go before the full house.
Thompson says the bill is the product of extensive feedback from stakeholders and all Members of the House. He contends it responds to the needs of farmers with bipartisan policies.
“The markup is one step in a greater House process, that should not be compromised by misleading arguments, false narratives, or edicts from the Senate,” he said, presumably calling out Senate Ag Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow. “I look forward to engaging with colleagues on both sides of the aisle as we move to markup.”
As currently written, the bill would increase reference prices for all commodities between 10% and 20%. The Agriculture Risk coverage guarantee would be set at 90% of benchmark revenue, with a Maximum ARC Payment set at 12.5% of benchmark revenue. The Supplemental Coverage Option would cover 90% of expected county yield and would be subsidized at 80%.
According to Republican aids who helped draft the bill, the bill is the product of months of negotiations with Democrat lawmakers. According to them, Thompson went out of his way to ensure priorities from both parties were taken into consideration.
“He continues to emphasize that he wants folks to come to the table, so much so that we are hearing from Democrat offices,” one aid said. “There are members who are very interested in the farm bill and are not subscribing to the political nature of the conversation and the influence of a retiring Senator who does want one.”
That was apparently another shot at Stabenow, who is retiring at the end of her term.
Notably, the Republican plan takes conservation funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and puts it into Farm Bill Title 2, the portion bill covering conservation funding.
To read the entire report click here.
