04/30/26 Afternoon CommStock Report – 2026 Farm Bill?

The last 5-year Farm Bill that Congress enacted was in 2018 and since 2023 they have been extending the bill annually as they could not agree on a new one. Republicans control Congress and they want to say they passed a fresh Farm Bill in case they lose control of the House in the fall mid-term election. The White House and Congressional leadership would like a Farm Bill to tout on the campaign trail. The GOP has just a tiny House majority and it will take bi-partisan cooperation to pass a bill. That has always been the case.   The Farm Bill has always been a product of compromise. Democrats typically called it a food bill for the benefits it contained for consumers and accounted for the largest amount of the spending while Republicans typically supported the farm subsidies that directly benefited farmers. The result was that both sides got what they wanted for conceding to what the other side wanted as well. If either side refused to concede to the other, there was no Farm Bill. To keep the wheels from flying off they would extend any current bill. That extended whatever programs were on auto-pilot but didn’t allow…