Farm Bill Options, Impacts and Outlook

After the 2012 elections, Congress returned to Washington, D.C. for a lame-duck session to address the “fiscal cliff,” the simultaneous challenge of expiring tax legislation and pending budget sequestration. Somewhere in this lame-duck agenda the farm bill may also find attention, as promised during the campaign season. Finishing a farm bill could produce budget savings that helps solve part of the fiscal cliff challenge. And perhaps more urgently, reauthorizing or at least extending now-expired farm bill legislation would prevent permanent farm bill legislation from 1949 taking effect on January 1