September 2026 Farm Bill Update
September 1, 2026
The farm bill has historically been a bill considered by Congress every five years. The bill covers everything from food and nutrition to rural electricity and research. However, in 2023, Congress failed to pass a farm bill and has since been approving one year extensions of the 2018 bill. While the farm economy and rural America have been evolving, the policies built to support them have not. This year we have seen more progress toward the passage of a farm bill but functioning farm and food policy is still a long way off.
In February 2026, House Agriculture Committee hairman GT Thompson (R-PA-15) introduced his version of the farm bill. Not long after, on March 3, 2026, the Committee began the markup process in which Committee members add suggested amendments that may or may not be considered. While the bill covered highly controversial issues, it passed out of Committee with some bipartisan support. Almost two months later, on April 30, 2026, the House of Representatives voted on the bill on the House floor and passed the farm bill, requiring the Senate to act. The April 30th action marked the furthest a farm bill had made it in the process since 2018.
Between May and mid-June, action on the farm bill seemed to slow considerably. On June 23, 2026, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) unveiled a discussion draft of the farm bill. Immediately, the bill was met with pushback from the Senate Agriculture Committee minority. Led by Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the Senate minority was steadfast in its stance that they would not support a bill that did not address the changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)
On August 3, 2026, Senator Boozman (R-AR) released a revised discussion draft outlining a one-year delay in the provisions of the OBBA going into effect for the SNAP cost shift. Just three days later on August 6, 2026, the Senate Committee on Agriculture met to mark up the discussion draft of the farm bill where only two amendments passed, the Chairman’s en bloc (see page 2) and Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD)’s amendment for Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (mCOOL).
Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling
A law requiring Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (mCOOL) would require that all meat is labeled with the country from which the animal originated. Many American ranchers would like to see this come to pass because they believe that it will make it easier for the consumer to choose American-raised meat over imported meat.
After hours of debate, the farm bill failed to pass out of Committee in a vote of 10 Republicans to 11 Democrats.
What’s next?
Currently, the Senate Committee on Agriculture is in recess, meaning that Chairman Boozman can call the Committee back at any time to vote on the farm bill again. This means that there is still opportunity for advocates to request action on their farm bill priorities. In order for the farm bill to move forward, the bill would need to pass out of Committee and be considered by the full Senate body. If this happens, the bill will be reviewed by a conference committee to make sure both chambers of the legislature agree on the bill.
What is an En Bloc Amendment?
En bloc amendments allow for the committee to move past amendments that the group has already agreed to as part of informal negotiations and formalize them all at once.
At the beginning of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s business meeting on August 6, 2026, Chairman Boozman called for the Committee to consider an “en bloc package.” He read the amendment numbers and titles on which the group had agreed, and then the Committee went on to vote. Of course, any member could move for the amendments to be considered separately if they desired.
In the Senate farm bill 34 amendments were accepted as part of the en bloc including two amendments proposed by Senator Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM).
The two amendments made by Senator Lujan (D-NM) are as follows
- Lujan (D-NM) Amendment #13 – An amendment supporting farmer to farmer education. This amendment leverages existing technical assistance resources by supporting farmer-led education networks and building capacity for new ones as a key strategy to increase adoption of conservation practices. Specifically, the bill would authorize the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to enter into cooperative agreements with community-based organizations in each state that are able to identify and build on established and burgeoning peer-to-peer networks and create new ones.
- Lujan (D-NM) Amendment #8 – An amendment to strengthen local food purchasing (modified). This amendment supports the Strengthening Local Food Security Program.
Strengthening Local Food Security Program
SLFS is a proposed program that would create noncompetitive funding for state and tribal entities to purchase locally grown and raised food for distribution to local schools and hunger relief programs like food banks. The program was introduced by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Jim Justice (R-WV) in S. 2338 The Strengthening Local Food Security Act.