January 2025 Farm Bill Update
January 23, 2025 | Source: Indigenous Food & Agriculture Initiative
Extending Farm Bills while drafting successors was once rare but has become common. The 118th Congress didn’t reauthorize the 2018 Farm Bill. Instead, they opted for two single-year extensions in November 2023 and December 2024.
The extensions maintain the 2018 bill’s authorities through fiscal year (FY) 2025 and the 2025 crop year. Most Farm Bill spending, which has a budget baseline, incurs no extra costs. The 2023 extension added $177 M for FY2024. The 2024 extension provided no new funding for FY2025.
While the Farm Bill extension gives Congress until Sept. 30, 2025, to pass a new Farm Bill, it did not fund numerous programs without baseline funding. These are “Orphan Programs.”
Without the Farm Bill, the agencies that run orphan programs may not have the resources to continue operating them.
When a program’s funding runs out, it does not mean the office closes immediately. New projects cannot begin, though. Some programs may have leftover funds to continue work for a limited period.