With a one year extension to the current Farm Bill it gives the US Senate and House time to put together a new five-year bill.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig expresses his disappointment that Congress couldn’t pass a new Farm Bill at the end of last September. However, he believes it will be done at the end of this year, but in a “lame duck” presidential cycle.

“Because you start to get closer to, you know, conventions this summer, election in the fall, all of those things mean that there’s just fewer and fewer working days to get a Farm Bill done. It’s okay, but what we need is certainty in uncertain times. A five-year Farm Bill brings certainty. But I would rather have it done well than to be have it done poorly and on shorter time frame.”    

Iowa’s Third Congressional District Representative Zach Nunn continues to push for a new Farm Bill and he’s also gotten the ear of the House Speaker Mike Johnson.

“I invited him out to Iowa. He spent time, like I have, listening to farmers. I’ve been on 71-plus farm tours, and we invited him to come in and share with him the priority on this. He recognized it and to his credit, he said this is one of those top priority items he wants to move to late winter or early spring. And that means getting text through the committee, voted on, and we can start having this debate on the floor.”        

Nunn adds he wants to include more for farmers in the legislation because about 18% of the Farm Bill is only about farmers and programs that support and help keep the industry successful.