The Senate Agriculture Committee passed the Agriculture Act of 2026 out of committee. Senator Mitch McConnell’s vote allowed the farm bill to pass along party lines in a 12-11 vote. The bill includes a provision for year-round E15 and a label for mandatory country of origin.
During the hearing, Chairman John Boozman faced pushback from within his party as Iowa’s senators requested the opportunity to amend the bill. Ernst says the legislation remained open until the committee was forced to vote. However, Boozman argued the committee closed out all the titles in August and the bill was closed.
Senator Joni Ernst pitched an amendment that preserves Proposition 12 and other existing laws but prevents future mandates that could create a patchwork system and raise prices for hog producers. “This hurts the small producers like my father,” Ernst says. “This is a serious attempt to find common ground and certainty going forward.” Iowa Senator Charles Grassley said he also hoped the committee would get a chance to vote on the amendment. “It’s just stupid we don’t have a chance to bring Iowa’s interests to this debate on the first farm bill we’ve had for discussion for the now the third year,” he says.
Grassley also hoped to offer a bipartisan amendment that would finalize the rules of the Packers and Stockyards Act. He says he wants delayed regulations to become permanent legislation. “I just want to express my irritation about the whole thing and just hope that somewhere along the line at least the Secretary of Agriculture will wake up, draw back her delays of these rules,” Grassley says.
“If we did your amendment, did Joni’s amendment or whatever, the reality is we would have to restart the whole committee, to be fair, and we aren’t prepared to do that, we weren’t planning on doing (that) and as my opinion as chairman that’s the way it is,” says Boozman who believed all committee members understood they would not be reopening the bill.
Snap State Cost Share Requirements
Democrats on the committee continue to support a two-year cost shift delay for the Supplemental Assistance Program. Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar says she appreciates Boozman’s SNAP offer but hopes a solution can still be created to address inequities for states across the country.
“We are in good faith, and I appreciate the chairman trying to fix that second year, which we have been from the beginning,” Klobuchar says.
“If this doesn’t go anywhere and current law stays in effect, the states, many of them represented on the committee, are going to pay a total of $17 billion more,” Senator Jerry Moran says. “There is a lot of states that are going to pay more if this doesn’t become law.”
Future of the farm bill
Next, the farm bill will be voted on by the full Senate. The Senate will recess before midterm elections at the end of next week. Chairman of the Russell Group, Tyson Redpath tells AgriTalk’s Chip Flory it’s unlikely a vote will happen before the break. “For the next six weeks, both chambers are going to be out of Washington,” Redpath says. “After the election, depending on how the election goes, we will see.
“We really can’t afford to not get this done by the end of this year,” Klobuchar says and thanked Boozman for his work on the legislation.
Response from Industry
The American Farm Bureau Federation applauds the bill’s movement. “It’s been almost a decade since Congress last passed a farm bill. In the past 10 years, more than 200,000 family farms have gone out of business, as farmers grappled with a pandemic, global unrest, rising expenses and falling prices paid for the food they grow. A new, modernized farm bill will help give farmers the tools they need to survive continued and unforeseen challenges ahead,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall says in a statement.
With various hurdles cleared, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) says now is the time for leaders in D.C. to hear the persistent, urgent plea of America’s 60,000-plus pork producers to finally stop the threat of a state-by-state patchwork of farm animal housing laws spurred by California Proposition 12. “America’s pork producers deserve a robust farm bill, which should come with protection from being forced to rebuild our barns every time another state decides it knows what is best for animal welfare,” Rob Brenneman, NPPC president and pork producer from Washington County, Iowa, says in a press release.
The National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) supports the bill’s risk management and trade programs, expanded access to credit, and permanent transfer of the Food for Peace Program. “But committee action must not be the end of the road. Wheat growers are still facing stubbornly high input costs and prolonged global uncertainty, while operating under a farm bill that hasn’t kept pace with today’s economic realities. Senate leadership must bring the farm bill to the floor and pass it as soon as possible,” NAWG says in a press release.
The Renewable Fuels Association also thanks the committee for moving the legislation forward. “Now, we urge the full Senate to pass year-round E15 legislation as quickly as possible, reconcile the language with the House, and get a viable solution to President Trump’s desk for his signature,” RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper says in a press release.
