The National Association of Wheat Growers says that many items farmers want to see in the next farm bill are included in the "One Big Beautiful Bill." (Courtesy Architect of the U.S. Capitol)

Many of the items farmers would like to see in a new farm bill are included in H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, a National Association of Wheat Growers representative says.

“It’s kind of a weird one — we have a lot of farm bill provisions in (budget) reconciliation,”  Anthony Peña, NAWG policy manager, told the Capital Press. “From NAWG’s perspective, we need these things to pass. From what we’ve heard from leadership in Congress, this is kind of a one shot to get a lot of this stuff done quickly in the farm bill.”

The Senate Agriculture Committee released their legislative text for the ag portion of the budget reconciliation package June 11.

It includes many changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and support for crop insurance, the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs, and other programs “that we need desperately, since we haven’t had a farm bill in a long time and keep extending it,” Peña said.

The text and reconciliation package must go through the Senate’s Byrd rule, or “Byrd bath,” which aims to ensure that reconciliation bills focus on fiscal matters and avoid extraneous policy changes.

“Anything that’s not budgetary is going to fall off,” Peña said.

The Senate Ag Committee worked to ensure that Byrd objections aren’t raised on farm bill priorities, he noted.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of developments,” he said.

For whatever doesn’t get included in the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” House and Senate ag committee chairs Rep. G.T. Thompson, R-Penn.,  and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., have committed to including them in a “skinny” farm bill later in the year, Peña said.

Crop insurance reference prices

Under the 2018 farm bill, wheat has a $5.50 statutory reference price, with the 2025 effective reference price being $5.56 per bushel.

Wheat farmers want a “meaningful” statutory reference price increase to enhance effectiveness and overcome economic challenges.

The reconciliation package sets the statutory reference price for wheat at $6.35 per bushel beginning with the 2025 crop year. It increases the effective reference price escalator formula from 85% to 88% of the five-year Olympic moving average marketing year average price.

It also implements an annual adjustment mechanism beginning with the 2031 crop year, increasing reference prices by 0.5% annually.

The package caps total increases at 113% of the base reference price to provide stability while allowing for moderate growth.

Peña hopes the changes move through the reconciliation process.

“I’m not going to bet on anything because Congress is Congress,” he said.

SNAP changes

The House passed legislation to cut about $295 billion in federal spending from SNAP over the next 10 years, according to the Associated Press.

The cuts include shifting about half of those costs to states, which administer SNAP,  expanding a work requirement for some SNAP participants and eliminating SNAP benefits to 120,000 to 250,000 immigrants legally in the country who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents.

The proposed changes have drawn controversy, Peña said.

The Senate proposed “significantly less” cuts to SNAP than the House, he said.

In the past, NAWG has emphasized the importance of SNAP to draw support from urban lawmakers for the farm bill.

NAWG doesn’t have a position on the changes, but supports SNAP, Peña said.

What do the changes mean for future urban support for the farm bill?

“That’s a really good question — a lot remains to be seen,” Peña said. “I think we may see this be a little more of a partisan process just because of how much pushback those changes are getting, especially on the (Democrat) side. It will be interesting to see what happens on the Urban Rural Coalition on farm bill.”

Next steps

President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson aim to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill by or around July 4, Peña said. Trump is actively lobbying lawmakers to pass the bill.

The House and Senate versions of the bill are “very different,” but there is alignment between the House and Senate majorities and committees for agriculture,  Peña said.

“There is a recognition that farm country, the farm economy, is in not-good shape, and that there is a level of urgency to get relief,” he said. “That urgency is necessitating action by Congress. Our voices are being heard, but we continue pushing to make sure we get the farm bill provisions we need and a farm bill in general before the end of the year.”