Senate to mark up long overdue farm bill

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Senate has released its version of the five-year farm bill and plans to mark it up in committee Thursday, finally making progress on the critical agricultural policy package.

Like the House's version, the Senate's 983-page Agricultural Act of 2026 renews and enhances crop insurance and price support, disaster assistance, risk management programs, operation and marketing loans, and federal agricultural research.

It also outlines investments in rural broadband connectivity, forest management, water infrastructure, and hospital assistance, as well as the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).

Unlike the House edition, the Senate's authorizes year-round sales of E15 gasoline nationwide and delays the "One Big Beautiful Bill's" state cost-sharing requirements for SNAP by one year, among other minor changes.

The chambers will ultimately reconcile the differences to produce a single compromise bill.

"Farm families are facing extremely challenging circumstances, with some deciding it's not worth continuing their operations," Senate Agriculture Committee John Boozman, R-Ark., stated.

"This bill strengthens the future of agriculture, supports rural communities and provides farmers, ranchers and producers with indispensable resources and tools, all of which serve to ensure America's food security for generations to come."

Congress is under immense pressure to pass a farm bill, which it is supposed to do every five years but has not since 2018.

Due to the U.S.-Iran conflict and the Trump administration's tariffs, American farmers are getting slapped with higher operational costs, which not only raise the cost of consumer goods but also threaten small farmers' already fragile financial solvency.

The U.S. lost more than 156,000 farms between 2017 and 2025, according to 2026 U.S. Census data. From 2024 to 2025 alone, farm bankruptcy filings jumped by 46%, the American Farm Bureau Federation reported.

The Farm Bureau praised the Agricultural Act of 2026 and urged the Senate to move forward quickly.

"We've lost 200,000 farms in a decade, and a modernized farm bill will help stabilize the struggling farm economy," AFBF President Zippy Duvall said in a statement. "We're calling on the Senate Agriculture Committee to advance the bill out of markup and send it forward for full Senate passage and ultimately the president's signature."