The 2024 season comes to an end. And an extension of the 2018 farm bill came in late December—not a moment too soon—as everyone waited with bated breath. Shutdown: dodged. Farm bill: extended.
New year, new money: Congress extended the farm bill until September and provided farmers $31B in disaster and economic aid, including nearly $10B of market relief aid. What wasn’t included was a debt limit increase and year-round sales of E15 fuel.
Everything’s bigger in Texas: Roughly 10% of the $9.7B in market relief payments will go to Texas farmers because they produce the most acres of cotton—and money grows on cotton. Here’s how the full amount of market relief breaks down by state:
- Texas: $963.5M
- Iowa: $845.7M
- Illinois: $790.2M
- Kansas: $786.9M
- Nebraska: $625.4M
- Minnesota: $615.5M
Left out in the cold: Fruit and veggie growers don’t qualify for the $10B in economic aid, but members of the Senate and House Ag Committees sent a letter to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack and the White House to ask for $1B for specialty crop growers.
Turnover stalls details: The bill covers natural disasters from 2023 and 2024. But specific aid will be sorted out on USDA’s time—aka potentially months—since a new slew of officials will turn over soon.