On June 28, the Senate passed its version of the 2018 farm bill by an 86-11 vote. With the passage of both the House and Senate farm bills, Congress now heads to conference to reconcile any legislative differences.

Both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees will spend the next two to three weeks preparing for conference. Members of the conference committee, who have not yet been announced, will have a host of differences to resolve between changes to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, conservation initiatives, and farm subsidy caps. “We know conference committee is going to be a wild and woolly debate as we go forward on a number of things," Senate Agriculture ranking member Debbie Stabenow said. The first official conference meeting is expected to occur mid-to-late July.

The current farm bill is set to expire at the end of September.

UEP’s Washington consultants are focusing on securing mandatory funding for animal ag pest and disease programs in the final bill.  UEP and other groups were able to secure $450 million in the House farm bill, yet the Senate bill contains no mandatory funding.