Earlier this week we heard from House Ag Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson of Pennsylvania about his estimate for the progress of the Farm Bill. As the Congress recesses for its annual August break, the future of the Farm Bill is in limbo as far as Congressman Thompson sees it in the House.
But, what about in the Senate? What is their take on it?
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst tells IARN that she isn’t very optimistic that a deal for the largest piece of agriculture and nutrition legislation can get done by the September 30th deadline. She says that progress has been slow, but she understands the concern to get this done ASAP.
So that means we need to have an extension of the 2018 Farm Bill to allow the programs covered to keep operating until the 2023 Farm Bill is finished. This isn’t the first time an extension of the Farm Bill has happened. The last two were finished late as well.
Of course, the devil is always in the details. Senator Ernst says one of the concerns she has in the legislation is the inclusion of language that helps protect the United States from too much foreign ownership of our lands. She wants to curtail foreign investment and she has bipartisan support with the help of Senate Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). We are seeing China backing a lot of those purchases, but they aren’t the only ones.
The question is, how difficult will it be to police something like this? Senator Ernst says that this effort has shed an unflattering light on the land ownership process.
When Congress returns from the August break, they will only have one month to figure out or extend the Farm Bill.
