The Farm Bill stalled Aug. 6 in the Senate Agriculture Committee, less than two months before the current version of the legislation is set to expire..The committee voted 11-10 against favorably reporting the bill. Two members were absent. The impasse came after Democrats criticized the legislation for not including a two-year delay to changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that shifts a portion of program costs to states. The Senate version of the Farm Bill adjusts price loss coverage and applies a 5 percent across-the-board increase to statutory reference prices for covered commodities. The bill would raise U.S. Department of Agriculture FSA-guaranteed operating loan limits to $3 million and guaranteed farm ownership loans to $3.5 millionThe Senate Ag Committee will take another vote in September, once it returns from this month’s recess. Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) said the proposal includes a one-year extension to the SNAP changes, with neither the White House nor a Congressional majority supporting the two-year delay. Boozman said a new farm bill is especially important in Arkansas, where the number of farm bankruptcies more than doubled last year from 2024.“The offer before you is the best and the final offer,” he said. The bill includes year-round E-15, which Committee Ranking Member Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) supports. Year-round E-15 would allow the permanent, uninterrupted sale and use of the ethanol during all months of the year, doing away with summer seasonal bans. However, Klobuchar criticized the bill for reportedly benefiting states with high SNAP-error rates — when a state agency miscalculates food assistance benefit amounts or mismanages paperwork — over states with mid-level error rates.“A state with an error rate twice that of Minnesota will pay nothing in the second year, whereas states that have reduced their error rates will still be disadvantaged over high error rate states,” she said. “Our members are simply asking for the two-year delay so all states will be on the same footing in working to reduce their error rates.” The American Bankers Association supports the farm bill. “The 2026 Farm Bill includes essential tools that support producers and their financial partners, including comprehensive risk management programs, loan guarantees, rural development investments, nutrition assistance and conservation initiatives,” the ABA stated. “This legislation will strengthen credit availability, enhance risk management and help agricultural lenders continue serving their customers effectively.”The current Farm Bill was passed in 2018, and has been extended multiple times since, most recently through Sept. 30 of this year. The House of Representatives passed its version of the Farm Bill earlier this year by a 224-200 vote. The bill, though similar to the Senate version regarding FSA farm lending limits, proposes stricter eligibility standards and major structural changes to SNAP.
