On June 10, the Senate passed their version of the new Farm Bill by a vote of 66 to 27, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. The conservation portions of the legislation appear to be similar to the bill the Senate passed last year with two notable exceptions. The first is a requirement for producers to apply basic conservation measures on highly erodible land and wetlands in order to qualify for federal subsidies on crop insurance. Secondly, a sodsaver provision is included that limits subsidies on land recently converted from native grasslands to crops.

The next step for the legislation is consideration by the U.S. House of Representatives. Similar to the Senate, a Farm Bill passed through the House Agricultural Committee with a vote of 36-10 in May. Last year, the legislation bogged down when it was time for the full House to act on it. Veteran congressional observers are speculating that this year's Farm Bill will likely face a similar tough process in the House with many conservative lawmakers there expressing a desire for deep cuts to the nutrition program contained in the bill. However, on June 12 Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that he would vote for the bill when it comes to the House floor, a shift for the longtime critic of agriculture support programs.

"Doing nothing means that we get no changes in the farm program, no changes in the nutrition program," Boehner told reporters today at a weekly press conference, "and as a result I'm going to vote for the farm bill to make sure that the good work of the Agriculture Committee and whatever the work that the floor might do to improve this bill gets to a conference."

House leadership is moving forward with the process of bringing the bill to the floor this week with anticipated debate and votes occurring before the July 4th recess.(pmr)