Farm Bill entangled in Congress

(AP) – U.S. Congress has to pass — or at least pass an extension of — the 2018 Farm Bill by Sept. 30, but talks have stalled after months of party-line debate.
Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and farm support programs are at the center of the debate, which also encompasses disaster relief dollars, farmer subsidies and more.
Gary Wertish, Minnesota Farmer’s Union president, said it goes far beyond its reputation as a safety net bill for farmers.
“There’s a lot of money that goes into really rural communities,” he said, “And now we’re into heavy into presidential politics, so it’s going to be tough to get it across the finish line.”
The spring and summer of 2024 have seen heavy, sometimes historic, precipitation totals, contrasted with the preceding two years of drought in Minnesota.
Wertish said all the rain has caused commodity prices to fall dramatically.
“Right now, your corn and soybeans are really below the cost of production for the farmer. But our inputs have not dropped [and] are still relatively high,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to cash flow right now.”