Following the recent election, Congress returned for its "lame duck session" on November 13^th. With a packed agenda, it is unclear whether lawmakers will address renewal of the Farm Bill before the end of the year, according to the Wildlife Management Institute. The legislation has already passed the Senate and the House Agriculture Committee. However, House Speaker John Boehner has made it clear that addressing the "fiscal cliff' facing the nation will be the top priority for Congress during the remaining days of this session.

There appears to be strong support from many, both within and outside Congress, to get a Farm Bill done before the session ends in late December. Many members of the House, particularly those from the agricultural states in the Midwest, indicate they believe that the votes are there to pass the Bill through the full House before the end of the year. Representative Collin Peterson from Minnesota, who is the ranking minority member on the House Agriculture Committee, is among this group. One of the options being offered as an alternative to passing a full five-year-term Farm Bill is to enact some sort of short-term extension of the 2008 Farm Bill that expired last September 30^th. This would then require starting over on a new Farm Bill when the next Congress reconvenes in January. Peterson is on record as being strongly "opposed to an extension of any kind for any time" and wants a Farm Bill addressed now.

In addition to the members of Congress that want to see immediate action on farm legislation, many conservation and agriculture-related groups want a Farm Bill passed quickly. The agriculture and conservation programs authorized by the 2008 Bill ground to a halt when that legislation expired last September leaving farmers and land managers up in the air as to how to proceed for 2013 and beyond. While this situation is driving some to lobby for immediate action, another incentive is the almost certain constraints to future spending authority that will be incorporated if the Bill is punted to the next Congress. Either way, the future of some of the most effective federal farm conservation programs hangs in the balance over the next several weeks. (pmr)