The House of Representatives is set to vote on its version of a Farm Bill this week. At first glance, this sounds like welcome news. The U.S. hasn’t had a new Farm Bill in eight years, the farm economy is struggling, and the war in Iran is increasing costs in farm country. A new Farm Bill could update farm policy to address the unique challenges and opportunities facing farmers in 2026.
Unfortunately, the House Farm Bill will not solve the problems facing farmers today. It is a status quo Farm Bill that helps broken programs limp along while ignoring glaring issues. On issue after issue — from crop insurance, to unfair corporate practices, to conservation funding to climate resilience — this Farm Bill falls short.
In the wake of difficult farm economies, including during the 1930s and 1980s, Farm Bills were designed keep farmers on the land and address issues such as soil and water conservation. There are many ways in which these bills fell short, but there was at least a recognition by policymakers that things were not well in farm country. Here in 2026, we find ourselves in a similar crisis moment, with farm bankruptcies increasing and the number of farms decreasing. Over the past few years, high input costs and low prices have driven farmers to difficult decisions about the future of their operations. The Trump administration’s tariff disputes with major trading partners has hurt export markets, while the Iran War is driving up costs of fertilizer and fuel. At the same time, the USDA has slashed staff and programs that could develop local and regional markets for farmers or help farmers reduce dependence on fertilizer. It is Congress’s responsibility to write policy that reflects this dire reality.
Droughts and “megafires”
Much of the west and southeast United States is experiencing severe drought right now (many locations are in exceptional drought). In the West, a region where much of the water used for agriculture comes from snowpack, there’s dangerously little of it this year. Not only will farmers have to adjust to a year with less water, but the risk of wildfires is also more pronounced. More western wildfires are classified as “megafires” (as well as terafires and gigafires) than in the past, going beyond their natural role and becoming hotter and larger.
If 2026 is another year of major fires, we will see pressure for more disaster payments to farmers, foresters, and landowners, creating another budget crunch that will make it harder to invest in resilience measures in the future. The risk of fires across the Southeast is also elevated this year, which could lead to public health concerns from breathing in toxic smoke (a concern especially for those who work outside, such as farmworkers). A new Farm Bill should help farmers and landowners build resilience against drought and fires, use farming practices that keep moisture in the soil and create natural firebreaks.
Crop insurance
This Farm Bill was written with an assumption of needing to be “budget neutral.” Yet certain recent changes to crop insurance provisions will cost taxpayers an additional $38 billion over the next 10 years while continuing to be a poor fit for small farms. Imagine instead if that $38 billion were used to ease access for the Whole Farm Revenue Protection program or to create other crop insurance options that are better fits for small, mid-sized, and diversified farms; or if crop insurance policy actually incentivized farmers to implement conservation on their farm, or plant crop rotations that included a variety of crops that could withstand dry or wet years and require less fertilizer.
USDA staffing
According to the Office of Personnel Management, between January 2025 and January 2026, over half of all county USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service offices lost staff, with 141 counties left with zero staff members. These jobs have the potential to offer stable careers in rural communities and provide needed services for farmers. The House Farm Bill does nothing to address this issue. In order to best serve farmers, local expertise is needed, especially as many farmers don’t have access to reliable internet. Without staff on the ground, the current administration won’t be able to fully implement even its own initiatives, such as the Regenerative Pilot Program (RPP).
Conservation funding
Despite NRCS conservation programs being consistently oversubscribed and underfunded, this Farm Bill takes over $1 billion from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to pay for other parts of the bill. Only 24% of EQIP applicants were awarded contracts in FY2025, making it a poor source of funds for other priorities.
The House Farm Bill creates new programs in the Conservation Title, some of which are welcome ideas. For example, the State Assistance for Soil Health (SASH) program is a promising idea that can help states address soil health in ways that fit with their states’ unique landscapes. However, this Farm Bill funds SASH by taking resources from the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), which is also oversubscribed — only 37% of applicants to CSP in fiscal year 2025 were able to access the program. There are other potential funding sources for SASH, such as the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), which does not face the same oversubscription and underfunding issues that CSP has.
This Farm Bill also increases the amount of funding going toward precision agriculture, in some cases allowing for over 100% cost-share for precision agriculture technology. While some precision agriculture can be helpful in reducing inputs, the House’s definition is broad and could lead to large contracts for expensive technology going out the door at the expense of tried-and-true soil and water conservation practices that can benefit farmers at all scales.
There are other new programs being rolled out, such as the Southern Border Initiative, which address conservation concerns for farmers at the border between the United States and Mexico. This program also siphons funds from EQIP while the Department of Homeland Security, which has spent billions of dollars on the border wall, has unprecedentedly high amounts of money in its coffers. Any remuneration for farmers along the border should come from that department.
Less than 5% of U.S. farmland is actively conserved, meaning we still have a long way to go in stewarding our private lands.
Excess corporate power in agriculture ignored
Both parties and farm groups have raised issues about unfair corporate practices in agriculture, in particular the fertilizer and beef sectors. Even prior to the Iran War, farmers were expressing concerns that the highly concentrated fertilizer industry was unfairly raising prices. Ranchers have raised questions about fairness in livestock markets where 85% of the beef market are controlled by just four firms. Other concerns around seed prices, poultry grower contracts, and egg prices have emerged since the last Farm Bill was passed. There have been bipartisan proposals to add capacity at USDA to enforce antitrust laws. Other proposals would review past agriculture sector mergers and strengthen rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act. Yet, the House Farm Bill ignores competition issues in agriculture and food markets, essentially ensuring that unfair practices will continue.
Anti-hunger provisions still gutted
Hunger and nutrition policy is usually a key point of debate during Farm Bills. However, the Republican-controlled Congress cut and weakened nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program ahead of time in its budget reconciliation bill, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Those facing hunger are already getting pushed out of the SNAP program due to OBBBA, and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates SNAP participation is already down 2.5 million people. SNAP is usually a red line for Democrats, but since the cuts have already been enacted, some are acting as though it is now a moot point and that changes to nutrition policy are not possible in this Farm Bill. Over the past few years, Congress has been eager to break things and slow to build, and in this case those experiencing hunger are suffering because of it.
Be bold, Congress
Congress was supposed to have passed a Farm Bill in 2023. Three years late, Congress is rushing ahead with a bill that leaves out most farmers and seems to ignore the real challenges facing farmers on the ground. Congress should go back to the drawing board and write a Farm Bill that responds to the moment, lifts farmers up, keeps them on the land and in control of their own fate. This Farm Bill is a status quo bill, and the status quo for decades has been more consolidation, higher costs, and more environmental degradation. We can and should reverse these trends.
