Dust Off Your USDA Talking Points – The Farm Bill Is Back

Last week, House Agriculture Committee Chairman GT Thompson (R-PA) introduced the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, their version of the Farm Bill designed to update federal agriculture, nutrition, rural development, conservation, and food policy. This bill aims to build on the agricultural, research, and conservation provisions that were enacted last year through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) while completing the remaining policy frameworks across the 12 traditional farm bill titles.

This Farm Bill is particularly wonky since most of the core safety-net and commodity provisions were partially covered in the 2025 reconciliation package, which they could cover under budgetary policy procedures. This bill seeks to address the rest of the policy spectrum that requires authorizations from conservation and research to specialty crop risk management and rural infrastructure.

As Chairman Thompson characterized the Farm Bill as “…the 80% of policy that we couldn’t do in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ under budget reconciliation, but it’s about 20% of funding overall.”

The House Agriculture Committee has scheduled a full committee markup of the bill for Monday, February 23, at 1:00 PM ET, where members will debate, offer amendments, and vote on advancing the bill to the House floor. Committee Democrats remain resentful at how parts of the Farm Bill were covered in the reconciliation bill – particularly SNAP benefits – which will likely reduce the chance of many Democrats getting to yes on this bill.

Once this bill makes it out of committee, it still has a tough road to be voted on out of the House, since some fiscal hawks will likely not want to vote on a bill that scores. Adding to the complexities is that the Senate Agriculture Committee has not yet begun working on its version of a Farm Bill.

However, just because it is still a long road ahead doesn’t mean that stakeholders should not be actively engaged. It will be important to clearly articulate what you like and don’t like in the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, since this is now the baseline text.  Additionally, it will be important to reference against the drafts in the Senate that were released by both parties to make the case for inclusion if your priority is not included.

Amid a noisy ecosystem with lots to do in Congress, we shouldn’t let Farm Bill fatigue get in the way of advocating for important provisions. Next Monday’s markup will be an important step forward in getting a five-year Farm Bill (eventually) signed into law.