Ag Groups & Politicians React to Senate Farm Bill Draft

American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall commented on the Senate farm bill discussion draft released today by Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. “Farm Bureau appreciates Sen. Boozman’s work to move a farm bill forward in the Senate. The bill text provides important support for farm families. The benefits include improved access to credit, expanded investments in specialty crops, increased transparency in fertilizer markets, and enhanced research and conservation programs. The discussion draft is a good first step and provides a solid foundation that Farm Bureau will work to improve upon as the Senate moves toward markup. “In October 2025, Farm Bureau sent letters to President Trump and congressional leaders emphasizing the severe economic pressures facing America’s farmers and ranchers and highlighting actions that should be taken to improve economic conditions in rural America. While we have seen meaningful progress, more action is needed from Congress to ensure farmers can continue to supply dinner for families across America. “We look forward to working with the chairman and members of Congress to address three top priorities not included in this farm bill draft, which are needed to help farmers through the current multiyear downturn in the farm economy. They include providing economic aid to help farmers struggling with historic inflation, protecting interstate commerce from a patchwork of state laws, and approving the sale of E15 blended fuel year-round, which would be a win-win for farmers and consumers. “Farmers appreciate President Trump’s call for congressional action on E15 and economic aid and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins repeatedly highlighting the need to protect interstate commerce, in addition to the need for aid and E15. We urge the Senate to quickly pass a bipartisan farm bill, and with the same sense of urgency, Congress must work together to address these additional priorities. It’s time to deliver solutions to America’s farmers and ranchers.”

House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (PA-15) issued the following statement today in response to the release of a farm bill discussion draft from the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry:  “I applaud Chairman Boozman and his team for their continued efforts to support producers and rural America through a full, five-year farm bill. I am encouraged to see the Senate build on the bipartisan momentum we began in the House of Representatives with the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026. “It has never been more apparent that our country needs modern farm policy that finishes the work we started last summer with the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. I look forward to working with Chairman Boozman and getting a farm bill to President Trump’s desk soon.”

National Association of State Departments of Agriculture CEO Ted McKinney commended U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman for releasing the Farm Bill 2.0 discussion draft in the following statement:
  “NASDA applauds Chairman Boozman for beginning the process of finalizing the Farm Bill 2.0,” McKinney said. “As this process gets underway in the Senate, NASDA remains committed to advocating for a bipartisan farm bill that will advance the food, fiber and fuel provided by American agriculture. Finishing a farm bill is vital to the food and agriculture sector, which benefits our economy, accounting for roughly one-fifth of U.S. economic activity and supporting nearly 23 million jobs. We will work closely with the Senate Agriculture Committee as they begin debating the discussion draft in the coming weeks.”

The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Democrats released the following joint statement on Senate Republicans’ Farm Bill discussion draft. “Senate Agriculture Committee Democrats have been clear that a Farm Bill must meet the needs of both farmers and families across America. This bill does not address the devastating cuts to SNAP or the shift to state taxpayers passed into law as part of HR 1. We appreciate that bipartisan provisions have been included in the discussion draft and stand ready to work with Republicans to negotiate a bipartisan Farm Bill that both meets the moment and can be successful on the Senate Floor.” The Democrats on the Senate Agriculture Committee include Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member, and Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Tina Smith (D-MN), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Peter Welch (D-VT), John Fetterman (D-PA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).

Senate Farm Bill Misses “Golden Opportunity” to Cut Red Tape and Support Career Building: The United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry released a Farm Bill text, notably omitting the Training Nutrition and Stability Act and the RESTORE Act. The following is a statement from Sam Schaeffer, Chief Executive Officer of Center for Employment Opportunities. “The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO)  is deeply disappointed by the U.S. Senate’s failure to include two crucial pieces of legislation in their farm bill text. The U.S. Senate has missed a golden opportunity to pass common-sense bipartisan legislation that simultaneously strengthens workforce development and protects food security—specifcally through the Training Nutrition and Stability Act (TNSA) and the RESTORE Act. Together these bills offer a vital fix to connect career training and food security, and finally lift the lifetime ban on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) enrollment for people with drug convictions. Too often, justice-impacted people are thrown under the bus when it comes to social safety nets. Antiquated prejudice has caused dangerous benefit cliffs and lifetime exclusions that lock  out justice-impacted people from economic opportunity in perpetuity, despite troves of evidence proving that benefits like SNAP lead to stability.  For nearly a decade people have had to choose between putting food on the table and a career to build family sustaining futures. TNSA ensures people enrolled in paid SNAP Employment & Training (SNAP E&T) activities, such as CEO’s program, don’t have their SNAP food benefits reduced or completely eliminated. This fix is crucial not only for justice-impacted people, a community who experiences food insecurity and unemployment rates much higher than the general population, but penalizes any American striving for independence.  TNSA fixes this flaw, ensuring SNAP E&T works as originally intended: as a bridge to lasting self-sufficiency, not a trap door. Without TNSA, these programs work against each other and instead of putting people on the path to independence, they get stuck in the gap between food security and career building. People cycle on and off SNAP causing a churn effect that creates administrative burdens and costly error rates.  TNSA offers a direct solution. By stabilizing participants and limiting SNAP churn, TNSA helps states reduce administrative error rates and thus reduce cost-share burdens.  As states navigate the ongoing roll out of H.R. 1, we are concerned about how states will balance their budget amidst new cost share responsibilities. When budgets tighten, the first programs cut are the ones that serve justice-impacted populations. TNSA offers a direct solution. By stabilizing participants and limiting SNAP churn, TNSA helps states reduce administrative error rates and thus reduce cost-share burdens.  Furthermore, with the expansion of SNAP work requirements and the impending implementation of Medicaid work requirements, we must ensure the systems we have in place support compliance. It is imperative that enrollment in SNAP E&T does not inadvertently kick people off their food benefits. TNSA enhances program efficacy ensuring individuals can successfully meet their work requirements while maintaining life-preserving benefits.  We all share the goal of building safer communities and helping individuals achieve lasting financial independence. We thank Chairman Boozman for prioritizing the Farm Bill,  but as the bill is drafted, it misses an opportunity for bipartisanship. We urge the Senate to come together for a bipartisan markup that includes TNSA and RESTORE. We look forward to working with the Chairman and Ranking Member to do so.”

NAWG CEO Sam Kieffer: Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry released draft text for Farm Bill 2.0. The National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) CEO Sam Kieffer provided the following statement.

“We are encouraged to see Chairman Boozman continue moving the farm bill process forward with the release of draft legislative text. Wheat farmers need certainty as they contend with stubbornly high input costs, commodity prices that barely break even, and ongoing volatility in global markets. NAWG is reviewing the proposal to assess how it addresses wheat growers’ needs, including crop insurance, the farm safety net, trade, research, conservation, and humanitarian programs that move U.S. grain. We look forward to working with Congress and the White House to get this legislation across the finish line this year.”

From NMPF President & CEO Gregg Doud: “NMPF thanks Chairman Boozman, Senate Agriculture Committee members, and their staffs for working to put together a farm bill that will bring greater certainty to producers. Dairy farmers look forward to working with senators to get this legislation passed and into conference with the already passed House bill, where lawmakers can craft the best legislation possible.”

Some key dairy highlights of the bill include:

• Authorizing mandatory cost and yield surveys to ensure future changes to the Federal Milk Marketing Orders reflect the most current market conditions, building off funding in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA);
• Extending the Dairy Indemnity Program and the Dairy Promotion and Research Program and making permanent the Dairy Forward Pricing Program;
• Supporting voluntary, producer-led conservation programs, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), with a continued designation of conservation funds for livestock producers;
• Streamlining the process for conservation Technical Service Provider certification to ensure producers have access to qualified individuals to help fill the gaps in needed technical assistance;
• Establishing a long-term policy directive for the U.S. government to proactively negotiate protections for common cheese names like “parmesan” and “feta,” as championed by NMPF;
• Reassigning export promotion funding initially included in the OBBBA into existing Farm Bill programs like the Market Access Program to make it easier to use by USDA’s international promotion partners, including the U.S. Dairy Export Council;
• Establishing the Dairy Nutrition Incentive Program and allowing additional milk, yogurt, and cheese products to be eligible;
• Expanding the REAP Program to include farmer-owned cooperatives;
• Modernizing FDA’s regulatory framework for approving animal feed ingredients to put American farmers on a level playing field with the rest of the world on innovative technologies in the feed industry;
• Expanding opportunities for animal health programs to receive additional funding through annual appropriations;
• Clarifying that whole milk may be served in the school breakfast program;
• Increasing the authorization of funding for Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives that support the development, production, marketing and distribution of dairy products;
• Expanding economic opportunities for farmers to partner with local food distribution organizations to provide fresh, locally grown foods, including milk and other dairy products, to eligible community institutions; and
• Making improvements to the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network and increasing funding through annual appropriations.

Today, Invest in Our Land (IIOL) issued the following statement in response to the release of the Agricultural Act of 2026 – or “Farm Bill 2.0” – by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman. 

“American farmers and ranchers are working through the hardest stretch in a generation, facing high input costs, volatile markets, and increasingly destructive weather. Federal conservation programs are among the most effective tools they have to manage these challenges,” said Rebecca Bartels, Executive Director of Invest in Our Land. “That’s why the long-term conservation investment Congress made in 2025 must be protected and built upon, not chipped away. We are concerned that the Senate’s draft again redirects funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to pay for other priorities – cutting the program by nearly $2 billion below the levels Congress set just last year. EQIP and other conservation programs provide practical, real-world benefits to producers’ resiliency and ability to innovate, which is why they are some of the most oversubscribed tools USDA operates: in fiscal year 2025, the Department was only able to fund approximately 24 percent of applicants to EQIP and 37 percent of applicants to the Conservation Stewardship Program. When demand outstrips supply by that much, the answer isn’t to keep cutting the same pie into thinner and thinner slices that don’t make a dent in the backlog. It’s to invest more in the programs producers are asking for by name. We applaud the positive updates to the Conservation Reserve Program; however, we cannot simply shift funding around and expect to meet the needs of our producers. We urge the Committee to pay for the new and expanded programs without taking from others, and codify the new Regenerative Agriculture Pilot Program. 

At the same time, the Farm Bill alone can’t fix this. The Natural Resources Conservation Service has lost 23 percent of its workforce, and conservation dollars don’t reach the field without the planners, engineers, and field staff who partner with farmers and ranchers to deliver them. Protecting and expanding conservation funding has to go hand in hand with protecting the people at the Natural Resources Conservation Service. We will keep working with farmers, ranchers, and lawmakers in both parties to get this right.”

EQIP Budget Authority: Reconciliation Bill vs. Agricultural Act of 2026

Environmental Quality Incentives Program annual budget authority under Section 1241(a) of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended.