<p>It is down to the wire for passage of a new farm bill before the end of the year with no completion in sight as the House prepares to leave for recess tomorrow. The current measure expires at the end of the month, but the House is scheduled to enter into discussions today on whether or not to take up a short term, 30-day extension to the bill. Reports note that lawmakers hope to complete the bill in January.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Barry J. Bedwell, President, California Grape and Tree Fruit League, tells AndNowUKNow, “House Republicans seem inclined to go ahead with a one month extension while Senate Democrats want to get something done now. While this process is certainly frustrating, most specialty crop producers remain generally optimistic about the final outcome.” </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Bedwell continues, “The conflict concerning the Farm Bill centers around the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), better known as food stamps. The issue is how much to cut to help with the overall federal deficit. Republicans wanted to cut as much as $40 billion at one time with the Democrats wanting to clip as little as $4 billion as indicated in the Senate passed version.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Members of the House and Senate have agreed on many things in their efforts to reconcile their different versions of a new bill including expanding crop insurance for farmers but remain distant on issues like the cuts to the food stamp program. Despite the differences, Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan and chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Representative Frank D. Lucas, Republican of Oklahoma, who heads the House Agriculture Committee, said they have made significant gains in trying to work out a deal that would pass both in houses, The New York Times reports. The House leadership has communicated that it is open to an extension, but Senator Harry Reid and Ms. Stabenow said they are opposed.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>“One of our frustrations is the continued call from some in production agriculture to decouple the nutrition and feeding programs from the actual farm provisions of the Farm Bill,” Bedwell tells us. “While SNAP and other assistance programs seemingly have little to do with everyday farming, the reality is that those programs bring attention from urban legislators and make possible the gains we have seen for specialty crops in the Farm Bill. In order to move forward, we really need compromise and not listen to the extremes.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>The most immediate impact of the expiration of the current farm bill would be on milk prices, the report notes. Without congressional action, the government would have to follow a 1949 farm law that would force the federal government to buy milk at inflated prices resulting in higher prices for consumers. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we follow the progress of the Farm Bill.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/us/politics/no-farm-bill-in-sight-as-recess-looms-for-congress.html?_r=0" target="_new">The New York Times</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
