Farm Bill Forecast: Turning Our Attention to the Senate

Author: Lindsey Shapiro

On April 30, the House of Representatives passed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act (FFNSA) of 2026, moving the nation one step closer to a new farm bill. The bill was passed by a vote of 224-200, with fourteen Democrats joining all but three Republicans in voting for the bill’s passage. The House vote reflects the most progress Congress has made toward the passage of a new farm bill since the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 expired in 2023. 

In many ways, though, this is not the bill we’ve been fighting for. Last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” made considerable changes to food and farm policy by investing in commodity programs and stripping dollars from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This House Farm Bill did not revisit those issues, instead largely favoring the status quo over transformative or forward-looking ag policy.

While we appreciate the leadership of Chairman Thompson in moving this bill forward, we think there’s more work to be done. For the countless farmers struggling to make ends meet, the House Bill offers only scattered policy improvements, many without the resources to fuel them, and falls short in several key areas:

1. Failure to reform the farm safety net for small and diversified farms
   The FFNSA does little to create a fair, responsible, and accessible safety net for farmers outside the commodity crop system. Diversified farm operations have long pushed for crop insurance products that fit their business models, and those demands continue to go unaddressed.
2. Diverting or weakening conservation funding
   The bill siphons funding away from conservation programs by pulling $1 billion from the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) over 10 years to support states and Tribes initiating or administering soil health programs. Pasa has continually championed state assistance for soil health (SASH) programs, but using CSP to pay for the initiative is short-sighted and not in the best interest of farmers. The Regional Conservation Partnership Program is a more logical home. Our hard-fought win to raise the CSP minimum annual payment from $1,500 to $4,000 will have little benefit if the program lacks sufficient resources to enroll small farms.
3. Overinvestment in precision agriculture
   The FFNSA dramatically increases support for precision agriculture technologies in conservation programs. While we recognize that precision agriculture has demonstrable benefits for some operations, it remains a relatively high-cost conservation solution that does not serve all farmers. Conservation program funding is limited, and providing overly robust support for practices unsuitable for all operations leads to a small set of farms consuming an outsized portion of program resources.
4. Too many unfunded promises instead of real investments
   The bill authorizes some promising initiatives, such as the Local Farmers Feeding Our Communities Act—an initiative to relaunch the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program—but many of these are effectively hollow because they lack mandatory funding. 
5. A partisan process with harmful policy riders
   The legislation broke with the traditionally bipartisan farm bill process and included controversial provisions unrelated to helping farmers, including limits on state environmental and animal welfare protections, pesticide liability protections, and nutrition policy cuts carried over from the “One Big Beautiful Bill”.

Despite the bill’s shortcomings, the House process demonstrated that farmer voices are making an impact. Members of Congress heard directly from producers, advocates, and rural communities about the importance of conservation, soil health, local food systems, and accessible farm programs. That advocacy helped protect several priorities that were at risk earlier in negotiations and defeat bad policy, like attempts to shield multinational agrichemical companies from litigation.

Now the focus shifts to the Senate, where public pressure can make a real difference.

The Senate still has the opportunity to improve the bill by strengthening conservation investments, expanding support for local food economies, and ensuring small-scale and sustainable farmers are not left behind.

This is the moment to stay engaged. Call your Senators. Share your story. Attend town halls. Talk with neighbors and fellow farmers about what’s at stake. The Farm Bill shapes what kinds of agriculture are possible in this country for years to come, and lawmakers need to hear that resilient farms, healthy soil, thriving rural communities, and equitable food systems are foundational.

Interested in levelling up your farm bill advocacy, or need help figuring out where to start? Reach out to policy@pasafarming.org to chat!