WASHINGTON — House Agriculture Republicans unveiled a long-awaited Farm Bill Friday, as lawmakers hope to pass the first long-term legislation since 2018.
The text of the released legislation builds on the farming provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and contains many of the priorities included in the 2024 bill that never made it to the House floor.
The Farm, Food, and National Security Act expands investments in the specialty crop industry, increases resources for young farmers and moves the Food for Peace program to the Department of Agriculture from the now-shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development, according to a committee bill summary.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., emphasized that a new Farm Bill is “long overdue.” The 2018 bill expired in 2023, but has been extended. The committee is set to markup the bill on Monday, Feb. 23.
“This bill provides modern policies for modern challenges and is shaped by years of listening to the needs of farmers, ranchers, and rural Americans,” Thompson said in a statement. “The farm bill affects our entire country, regardless of whether you live on a farm, and I look forward to seeing my colleagues in Congress work together to get this critical legislation across the finish line.”
But the top Democrat on the committee swiftly opposed the Republican-led bill. Rep. Angie Craig, D-MN, said the legislation “failed to meet the moment” for farmers, adding that it was riddled with “poison pills.”
“Farmers need Congress to act swiftly to end inflationary tariffs, stabilize trade relationships, expand domestic market opportunities like year-round E15 and help lower input costs,” Craig said in a statement.
“I strongly urge my Republican colleagues to drop the political charade and work with House Democrats on a truly bipartisan bill to address the very real problems farm country is experiencing right now – before it’s too late.”
The new Farm Bill establishes a framework to support specialty crop producers when disasters hit and provides over $1 billion for programs that support research of speciality crops.
For rural communities, the legislation establishes a rural childcare initiative, a three-year program to address the lack of childcare options in agricultural communities. It also strengthens the Rural Hospital Technical Assistance Program and improves a rural broadband program, according to the committee summary.
The proposed Farm Bill also tackles the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which has already been significantly changed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It makes an online SNAP pilot program permanent, allowing recipients to make purchases online nationwide.
In a nod to the Make America Healthy Again Movement, the bill directs the USDA to expand animal protein options under SNAP. It requires states transition to chip-enabled EBT cards for federal food benefits. Alabama began to send out new chip-enabled cards statewide this week.
As part of the bill, the committee spotlighted more opportunities to help young, socially disadvantaged and veteran farmers, including through expanding access to credit for those groups that aren’t able to obtain credit from a commercial lender.
Hemp provisions in the legislation aim to “reduce or eliminate testing requirements and background checks for producers of industrial hemp.” It also calls for the USDA to create a process to allow laboratories to be accredited to test hemp.
The 2018 Farm Bill legalized the sale of hemp-derived products, but the federal spending law included a ban on the sale of consumable hemp-derived products with more than 0.4 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. That’s the same psychoactive element found in marijuana, but at significantly lower levels.