The need to pass a new Farm Bill was one of the big concerns for Minnesota farmers this year. But that didn’t happen before the current bill expired.

The 2018 Farm Bill, which provides federal funding for everything from nutrition programs to conservation programs and crop insurance, officially expired on Monday. Without a new bill or another extension of the 2018 bill, there are a lot of uncertainties for agriculture, area farmers said this week.

“In a way it’s pretty sad. They’ve had a couple of years to work on this Farm Bill,” said Bob Worth, who farms in the Lake Benton area.

“It’s frustrating,” said Cottonwood area farmer and Minnesota Farm Bureau board member Carolyn Olson. Farmers have been advocating for a new Farm Bill, she said. When Olson was part of a trip to visit with members of Congress in Washington, D.C., in September, it was one of their main messages.

“That was our number one conversation, was the importance of getting a Farm Bill done this year,” she said. “Farmers need that certainty. Bankers need that certainty.”

The Farm Bill that expired Sept. 30 was originally passed in 2018, and in 2023 it was extended a year. Without either a new bill or another extension, federal funding for a range of programs will be affected.

Only some of that impact would be felt right away, Worth and Olson said. Farmers will be unable to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program, and EQIP (the Environmental Quality Incentives Program) would also be affected, they said. Other parts of the Farm Bill, including crop insurance and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, would continue.

One big concern about the Farm Bill expiring would be the possibility of price supports for crops reverting back to an older system, Olson said.

“Price support numbers have changed drastically” over the years, Olson said. “It’s not going to be good for agriculture or for the rural economy if we don’t get a new Farm Bill written.”

“We really need a good safety net,” Worth said. This was especially important with the current farm economy, and to help support younger farmers, he said.

Earlier this year, a Farm Bill was passed out of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, but there hasn’t been further movement.

“We haven’t even seen what the Senate is going to do,” Worth said.

“This year, it’s just kind of been stuck in party politics,” Olson said. She said the political division over the Farm Bill seemed like something new. While farmers across the country had a lot of regional differences, in the past people were still able to come together to pass a bill, she said.

“We need, at least, an extension of this Farm Bill,” Worth said. However, neither he nor Olson were sure if that would happen before the end of the year.

Olson said part of the concern was that there will also be other issues, like the 2017 tax bill, that will be getting lawmakers’ attention.

“That will be taking up a lot of Congress’ time in the next session,” she said.

Another big concern about the prospects for a new Farm Bill or an extension was the uncertainty over a new U.S. administration and a new balance in Congress after November’s elections.

“So many things are up in the air,” Olson said.

It would also take time to put new people in place for a new administration next year, Olson said.

Olson said the Minnesota Farm Bureau sent out an action alert encouraging farmers to contact their U.S. representatives and senators about passing a new Farm Bill or a continuing resolution.

At the same time, Olson said many of the farmers her family knows haven’t had much of a chance yet to process the news about the Farm Bill’s expiration. Right now, they’re busy with the harvest.

“That’s been our main focus,” she said.