Ask the man who has completed six farm bill cycles when a new bill will be pushed through and Joe Outlaw will tell you this year, says a report at the High Plains Journal.
Outlaw, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist and co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University in College Station, told the crowd at the High Plains Dairy Conference that a year ago he would have bet it would be 2019 before producers saw a new farm bill.
“The smart person says it will be next year; but I think it has to happen this year or we could have completely new leadership,” he said. “It won’t be easy. Every member of the House and a third of the Senate has to go campaign, and they want to get this bill done before the current bill expires Sept. 30.”
Squeezing in a farm bill will be difficult, but Outlaw said he believes it will happen because the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 fixed cotton and dairy — and that was a big deal.
Equally important, he said, is “the Republicans and president realize they need some sort of victory coming up. It’s all about the politics and trade that have me changing my mind about it being done this year.”
Read the full report here.
