Every five years, Congress reassess and renews the Farm Bill–a bill that conserves farmland, supports farmers and ranchers, and sets national policy on nutrition, conservation, and forestry. The bill that was approved in 2008 expired September 2012, and while a bill was passed in the U.S. Senate, it has not yet passed in the U.S. House.  Negotiations between the Senate and House Agriculture Committees have been ongoing but stopped this week as each side has accused the other of bad faith negotiations.

One of the issues that has made negotiations difficult is that it is unknown at this point whether the farm bill will be included in a fiscal cliff bill or not.  The Senate bill is projected to save the federal government $23 to $35 billion, the House bill $35 billion.

This week, thirty one Senators sent a bipartisan letter to Senate leadership asking them to move a full, five-year bill by the end of the year.  The letter points out that agriculture supports more than 16 million jobs in the United States and produces a domestic supply of food, fiber, and fuel as well as an agriculture trade surplus for the country.  This year the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that agricultural  exports for fiscal year 2013 are projected to reach a record $143 billion, resulting in an agricultural trade surplus of over $26 billion.

The letter also pointed out that, to date, 2,196 counties are currently under primary USDA drought disaster designations, and many producers are still struggling from extreme drought and spring deep freeze.