Farm Bill Process Starting Over

Following the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to develop a proposal into which the 2012 Farm Bill could have been included, Washington policy analysts say the crafting of national farm policy will be a more-open process, with programs facing additional scrutiny.

“What is going to happen now is the process will slow down a little bit and it will become a little bit more transparent for everybody who is interested,” said Mark Maslyn, American Farm Bureau Federation public policy executive director. “We’ll have more time to do the things that normally occur in a farm bill, whether they be hearings or analysis for different proposals.”

Following the super committee’s failure to reach an agreement, Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, stated, “We will continue the process of reauthorizing the farm bill in the coming months, and will do so with the same bipartisan spirit that has historically defined the work of our committees.”