Some are saying Congress may need to pass a short-term extension of the current farm bill if they are unable to get a new one across the finish line before September 30, but House Agriculture Committee chair Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) is still optimistic.

“With the farm bill, we’re rounding first base,” said Thompson during a recent interview in Washington D.C. by farm broadcaster Tony St. James, All Ag All Day. “We hit second base we’re going to be starting to write this thing. We get to third it means we’ve done a mark up in committee and that will probably be early September, is my hope.”

Thompson says he realizes there is a race against the clock right now, but using the baseball analogy, he thinks they are in about the fifth inning at this point – and there will not be any seventh inning stretch. “My one goal is we’re going to do this farm bill on a bipartisan, bicameral way – on time – and highly effective,” he said.

Listen to Tony’s interview here:
All Ag All Day interview with Rep. GT Thompson 11:54