Grassley says new Farm Bill likely won’t happen in 2024

WASHINGTON — Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he doubts a new five-year Farm Bill could get done before the end of the year.

The Republican from New Hartford says another one-year extension of the bill would not provide much of a benefit to farmers.   “They’ll have what’s in the 2018 Farm Bill, which is the reference prices that should be increased by 20%, but they won’t be increased by 20% in the case of just a one-year extension.”

Grassley says there’s been some talk on Capitol Hill of pre-conferencing a new five-year Farm Bill and then completing things after the election, but he says he’s against it.  “I cannot accept that, and I want to make sure that we have regular order when we have a Farm Bill, because there’s a lot of individual people that have ideas that ought to be in the Farm Bill. They should have an opportunity to offer amendments, and with the pre-conferencing there wouldn’t be such opportunity.”

The one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill expires on September 30th, and it’s increasingly likely another one-year extension will be voted on prior to the end of the month.