A new Farm Bill is on the agenda for Congress when it returns to work in September and at least one agricultural economist in the state thinks a deal might get done.
Dr. Hunter Biram told Talk Business & Politics if the current Farm Bill expires without a replacement a “Reversion Farm Bill” would take effect.
“Trust me. Nobody wants that,” he said.
Congress passed the 1949 Agricultural Act and there were multiple provisions within the measure that will take effect if a new bill isn’t passed, according to Congress.gov. The most widely understood example in the Reversion Farm Bill is the “dairy cliff.”
If the Reversion Farm Bill takes effect, it requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture to buy up certain amount of dairy products like cheese, milk and butter. This would synthetically raise the market prices for these goods.
It’s estimated that these dairy goods prices could rise by almost three-fold under this scenario, Biram said. And, there are reversions for other crops and livestock meaning consumer prices would skyrocket across the board artificially, he added.
The purpose of this part of the act was to motivate lawmakers to pass a Farm Bill every five years. Constituents angry about higher grocery prices would be good motivators for lawmakers, he said.
The current Farm Bill was passed in 2018 and then extended in 2023 as it was set to expire.
The new congressional spending bill, often referred to as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” has several provisions in it that provide financial assistance for farmers. But, the bill won’t take effect until next year.
Biram said producers around the state have faced a gauntlet of issues the last several years and those issues have worsened this year. Flood events throughout the Delta in April will likely lead to plant and yield losses, he said.
Corn and soybean crops are projected to be down for a third straight year, while rice and cotton will likely be down from last year.
Commodity prices have been in the doldrums when compared to earlier this decade and input costs continue to rise, he added. There are a lot of empty fields throughout the state right now because it would cost farmers to plant those acres.
“Breaking even is a best case scenario right now and many won’t be able to,” he said.