FarmWeek Now .com

Every dollar will be questioned, conservation spending could get trimmed and a status quo attitude may preserve some vital programs while gutting others.

And the work likely won’t be done before next October. Those are among the top forecasts for how drafting the 2023 farm bill might play out in the next Congress, one featuring a Republican majority in the U.S. House and Democratic control in the U.S. Senate.

They were offered by Jonathan Coppess, director of the University of Illinois’ Gardner Agriculture Policy Program; Nick Paulson, U of I professor and ag economist; and Mary Kay Thatcher, Syngenta’s senior lead of federal government relations, during a panel discussion at the 2022 Farm Assets Conference.

Even though the farm bill can serve as a basis for bipartisanship, political dynamics will still play a major role in crafting next year’s legislation, Coppess said. “We’ve had some challenges the last two farm bill goarounds, and I think those challenges will still exist politically,” Coppess said, adding those issues will be magnified by the narrow margins in each chamber.

U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., will lead the House Ag Committee while U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., will retain her chair position in the Senate Ag Committee.

Thatcher said Thompson will likely bring a “whole different focus” to farm bill hearings, one that contrasts with the climate-related hearings lead by current committee chair Rep. David Scott, D-Ga.

The committee itself is also on track to look much different as U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, is one of four committee members from Illinois to be