The current farm bill expires this weekend, so it is less than unlikely that a new one will be passed before that time, but will it happen before the “drop dead” deadline of the end of this year?

Two members of Congress from Kansas were at the Ag Outlook Forum in Kansas City on Monday, hosted by AgBizKC and Agri-Pulse Communications. U.S. Representatives Sharice Davids (D-KS) and Tracey Mann (R-KS), both members of the House Agriculture Committee, discussed the potential for getting a farm bill across the finish line without an extension.

“You’ve got to remember that the farm bill today is 81 percent food and nutrition, 19 percent everything else,” said Mann, who is fifth-generation Kansan, born and raised on the family farm. “In the everything else bucket are things like crop insurance, market access programs, conservation programs, all of the things that effect production agriculture.”

Davids, who has served in Congress since 2019, admittedly knows little about agriculture but says she has embarked on a listening tour around the state to learn more. “I went to a livestock auction. I didn’t buy anything, luckily they wouldn’t let me,” said Davids. “I went to a co-op, a vegetable farm, a goat farm. I’m learning the difference between all the different types of cows.”

Listen to their opening statements here:
Ag Outlook Forum - Reps. Mann and Davids 20:13