Update: House Agriculture Committee markup is rescheduled for March 3rd at 5:00 PM ET.
Late last week, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson introduced H.R. 7567, titled the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026. The release of this draft farm bill has prompted questions about where exactly we are in the farm bill process and what still needs to be done. The question is justified, as this farm bill process has traversed multiple extensions, prior-year drafts, lapsed appropriations, and the inclusion of key farm bill provisions in the reconciliation bill (OBBBA) passed in July.
Current Status
We are currently operating under an extension of the 2018 farm bill through September 30, 2026 for programs not included in OBBBA. For a detailed listing of the farm bill provisions in the OBBBA, see this Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation article.
When OBBBA was enacted, the farm bill was in its second extension, set to expire on September 30, 2025. OBBBA modified and extended the authorization of several commodity title programs and certain other programs through 2031. Programs not included in OBBBA remained subject to September 30, 2025 expiration. At the same time, and separate from the farm bill itself, appropriations that fund federal government operations and discretionary farm bill programs were also set to expire on September 30. Both things happened.
The farm bill expired on September 30. Appropriations also lapsed, resulting in the federal government shutdown. In November, with another reconciliation bill, Congress funded USDA for FY 2026 to address the appropriations issue. That same law also extended the 2018 farm bill until September 30, 2026. See this article for more detail.
Farm Bill 2.0 Process
The release of H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, indicates that we may be getting closer to a 2026 farm bill. Several steps still need to be taken with varying degrees of legislative agreement to get a farm bill over the finish line, starting with House Agriculture Committee markup.
Committee markup is scheduled for Monday, February 23. House Agriculture Committee members will consider the bill, offer any amendments, and vote on whether to recommend it to the full House of Representatives. Committee markup will start at 1:00 PM ET, as shown on House Agriculture Committee calendar and can be viewed by livestream.
If the committee votes to release the bill, the House will still need to go through its process to consider, debate, and vote on the bill. A parallel process typically happens on the Senate side. A new farm bill draft has not yet been introduced in the Senate. At each step in the process, minor or major changes will be made, meaning that the text of a final farm bill may look very different from the text of H.R. 7567 as drafted.
What's in this Bill?
This 2026 draft farm bill released by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (H.R. 7567) is similar to the bill the House Agriculture Committee released two years ago - The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024 (HR 8467) - and other than the year, carries the same name. New provisions have also been added in response to more recent events.
The 800+ page bill would impact all twelve farm bill titles. The House Ag Committee’s Title-by-Title Summary can be found on their website.
In addition to other things, the bill would -
- Suspend until 2031, permanent law provisions related to outdated price support formulas that could create an expensive and logistical dilemma for USDA if the outdated laws kicked in.
- Provide a framework to directly assist specialty crop producers for production disruption due to adverse events, and direct USDA to develop a methodology for support, taking into consideration that specialty crops command higher prices and have higher input costs than traditional commodity crops. Payments would be based on prior year sales.
- Authorize the use of state block grants as a mechanism for future disaster support.
- Classify the servicing of Market Assistance Loans and sugar loans as services for emergencies involving the safety of human life or protection of property, which could allow servicing to continue during a future government shutdown.
- Expand the use of storage facility loans to store propane that is primarily used for agricultural production.
- Extend authorization for the Conservation Reserve Program to 2031, maintaining existing acreage cap.
- Include precision agriculture practices and technology implementation projects as eligible for an increased 90% payment for the EQIP program, and also eligible for CSP.
- Increase borrowing limits for direct operating loans to $750,000 and direct farm ownership loans to $850,000.
- Increase guaranteed loan limits to $3,000,000 for operating loans and $3,500,000 for farm ownership loans.
- Create a pilot preapproval process for farm ownership loans.
- Allow certain distressed guaranteed loans to be refinanced as direct loans.
- Decrease the experience requirement for beginning farmers.
- Authorize a pilot program that would allow certain custom-exempt processing facilities to sell meat directly to consumers within the state.
- Restrict states from enacting production standards on livestock not raised in that state and restrict states from imposing as a condition of sale, standards that are different or in addition to the standards of the state where the livestock was raised.
- Require uniform national pesticide labeling.
The markup process will determine whether the bill (likely with amendments) will be advanced to the full House. Committee markup will start at 1:00 PM ET on Monday, February 23, as shown on House Agriculture Committee calendar and can be viewed by livestream.