Ag Reform, Food & Jobs Act Officially Introduced In Senate

Senator Debbie Stabenow, chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, announced that the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 (S.3240) has been officially introduced in the U.S. Senate.

The bill, authored by Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Sen. Pat Roberts, is a bipartisan bill that reforms U.S. food and farm policy to save taxpayers $23 billion while strengthening and streamlining programs to continue allowing the agricultural economy to grow. The bill was adopted by the Committee last month on a vote of 16-5, with broad bipartisan support.

Expect the House farm bill proposal to be significantly different from the Senate bill. The House bill is expected to retain the target price — counter cyclical payment system (at least for some crops) and will pay for it with deeper cuts to food and nutrition programs. Most believe bills in both houses must be passed by early August to be approved yet this year. The current farm bill expires September 30th of this year.