American Ag Network
Boozman Releases Farm Bill 2.0 Text, Built for Bipartisan Path — But Without Prop 12, E15
Jesse Allen
(WASHINGTON D.C.) — On Tuesday, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) released the text of his Farm Bill 2.0 legislation, the Agricultural Act of 2026, framing the sprawling discussion draft around a single premise: “If you feed America, this bill is for you.”
“An updated Farm Bill is long overdue,” Boozman told reporters on a press call Tuesday afternoon. “Economic conditions have changed dramatically since 2018 when we did the last Farm Bill, which was actually based on 2012 data. Producers nationwide are anxiously awaiting action.”
The bill covers modernized USDA loan limits, rural broadband and water infrastructure, conservation, crop insurance, fisheries, international trade promotion, and rural development — building on what Boozman called “Farm Bill 1.0,” the agricultural provisions enacted last year in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This discussion draft represents the policy-focused final piece.
“It will strengthen agriculture, support rural communities, and ensure American farm families have the resources and the tools they need to succeed for generations to come,” Boozman said.
The draft incorporates more than 100 bipartisan bills and was released for a comment period of roughly two weeks before the committee aims for a markup vote before the August recess.
Why Prop. 12 — and Several Other Issues — Were Left Out
One of the most closely watched questions heading into Tuesday’s release was whether Chairman Boozman’s bill would include a fix to California’s Proposition 12, the animal housing law that has created a patchwork of state regulations affecting pork producers nationwide. The answer was no — and Boozman was direct about why.
“We’re going to need a number of Democratic votes in order to get this passed on the floor,” Boozman said. “We really haven’t identified anybody that will step up and say that they’re for this on the Democratic side. I’m personally for it, but… I don’t think that it shows strength. I think the pork producers don’t gain anything if you have a vote and it’s just a party line vote.”
The Senate requires 60 votes to advance a farm bill, giving Democrats real leverage over the final shape of the legislation — a fact Boozman acknowledged repeatedly throughout the call. The same calculus explained the omission of a pesticide liability fix and a measure addressing SNAP product exemptions being sought by certain states.
“It’s all the same problem,” Boozman said. “We don’t have the votes in order to pass that in the Senate. So, truly, it’s just a numbers game.”
The National Pork Producers Council — leading a coalition of more than 330 agricultural groups — had sent a letter earlier Tuesday urging the committee to include a Prop. 12 remedy. Hours later, they had their answer.
“While there is certainly room for improvement, we appreciate the Chairman putting forward a discussion draft to guide a path forward,” said NPPC President Rob Brenneman. “America’s pork producers will continue to advocate for a Prop. 12 fix in the formal farm bill like our livelihood depends on it — because it does.”
Brenneman said producers are up against a $30 million activist advertising campaign aimed at intimidating lawmakers, and called on Congress to hear farmers above the political noise. “Prop. 12 is creating an unpredictable, unavoidable wave of conflicting state laws and uncertainty — and farmers are the ones left to drown in its wake,” he said.
Farm Action President Angela Huffman, by contrast, called the Prop. 12 omission “an important win for the independent hog farmers who fought to protect this market.” But she was sharply critical of other aspects of the draft, including what she said were inadequate conservation investments and cuts to EQIP funding, and the stripping of whole-farm assessments and soil testing requirements from certain conservation programs.
“Without the structural reforms needed to restore competition, rebuild local and regional food systems, and strengthen farmers’ position in the marketplace, Congress will continue treating the symptoms instead of the cause,” Huffman said.
Timeline: Markup Before August, Floor Later This Year
Chairman Boozman laid out a specific timeline: release the draft now, take feedback for roughly two weeks, then move to committee markup in the window between returning from the July Fourth recess and the August break.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has committed to giving the bill floor time when it’s ready.
“Senator Thune is one of our most active members on the committee,” Boozman said. “He’s totally, totally into giving us floor time when we need it to get the farm bill passed, and he understands coming from South Dakota how important this is.”
E15 Stays Separate — and Is a Bridge Payment Is Coming?
Two of the most pressing asks from farm country — year-round E15 and emergency financial assistance for row crop producers — won’t be in this bill. But Boozman indicated both are actively moving.
On E15, he said he’s following the House’s model of keeping it as standalone legislation, both out of respect for the process the House went through and to maximize its chances of passage. The bill will also require additional Senate-side modifications, meaning the House will need to pass it again.
“I think we’ve got the votes to get it passed,” Boozman said.
On emergency financial assistance, Boozman said a bridge payment for struggling row crop producers is “right at the very top” of priorities and expects it to move in a military supplemental spending package the administration is putting together.
“I think it’s vital that we have another bridge payment as soon as possible,” he said, noting that disaster relief funding for ongoing crises — including unresolved issues from the California wildfires and Hurricane Helene’s aftermath in North Carolina — would likely travel alongside the agricultural bridge payment.
For producers in the field right now, Boozman identified the three most urgent priorities: the bridge payment, E15 passage, and the bill’s modernized credit provisions — which update USDA loan caps that have been frozen at levels based on 2012 construction costs and commodity prices.
“If you’re growing something in the ground… you’re losing money because input costs have gone up dramatically,” he said. “What businesses do is raise price. Farmers can’t do that. They’re dependent on the international price.”
What’s in the Bill
Beyond credit modernization, Boozman highlighted rural broadband as emblematic of how the farm bill’s scope extends well beyond commodity programs.
“We used to think in terms of if you’re going to develop an area, you thought in terms of… water, roads, railroads, runways,” he said. “Now, if you don’t have broadband, you aren’t going to develop.”
He cited population loss in rural America — 53% of U.S. counties shed residents in the last census — as the underlying problem the bill’s rural development, hospital, school, childcare and infrastructure provisions are designed to address.
The bill also for the first time gives a permanent policy home to the commercial fishing and seafood industry, which Boozman said has long been an “orphan” without a clear congressional jurisdiction.
On conservation, the bill streamlines EQIP and other voluntary programs, though critics like Farm Action have raised concerns about changes to how technical assistance and assessment requirements work.
Democrats: SNAP Cuts Must Be Addressed
Senate Agriculture Committee Democrats welcomed bipartisan elements of the draft but made clear it doesn’t yet meet their threshold.
“This bill does not address the devastating cuts to SNAP or the shift to state taxpayers passed into law as part of HR 1,” they said in a statement. “We appreciate that bipartisan provisions have been included in the discussion draft and stand ready to work with Republicans to negotiate a bipartisan Farm Bill that both meets the moment and can be successful on the Senate Floor.”
Boozman, for his part, acknowledged the SNAP negotiations are ongoing and said all parties are engaged in good faith.
“We’re talking with them. We’re negotiating in private,” he said. “Everybody’s working in good faith to get a farm bill… I think everybody wants to get there.”
House Chairman Signals Cooperation
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) — whose chamber passed its version of the farm bill in April — was quick to welcome the Senate draft and signal a cooperative path to conference.
“I applaud Chairman Boozman and his team for their continued efforts to support producers and rural America through a full, five-year farm bill,” Thompson said. “I am encouraged to see the Senate build on the bipartisan momentum we began in the House of Representatives with the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026.”
Boozman, in turn, was effusive about Thompson’s groundwork: “He did something that nobody thought could be done in passing a farm bill. This represents much of what they did and we built on a little bit.”
Dairy Provisions Get Detailed Treatment
The National Milk Producers Federation praised the draft as a foundation for negotiations, while highlighting a detailed slate of dairy-specific provisions. Among them: mandatory cost and yield surveys tied to Federal Milk Marketing Order reforms; permanent authorization of the Dairy Forward Pricing Program; expanded SNAP incentives to cover whole and reduced-fat milk, certain cheeses, and limited-sugar yogurt; whole milk in the school breakfast program; and a new long-term policy directive for the U.S. government to proactively negotiate protections for common cheese names like “parmesan” and “feta” in international trade agreements.
“Dairy farmers look forward to working with senators to get this legislation passed and into conference with the already passed House bill,” said NMPF President & CEO Gregg Doud.
The International Dairy Foods Association echoed that praise: “Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Boozman’s Farm Bill prioritizes dairy,” said IDFA President and CEO Michael Dykes, pointing to the expanded SNAP incentives as a way to “stretch SNAP dollars for participating families.”
Fellow Senators, Ag Groups Broadly Supportive
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), a Senate Agriculture Committee member, cheered the release and highlighted several provisions she sponsored that made it into the draft, including a rural water system disaster preparedness program, a middle-mile broadband reauthorization, and the DIRECT Act — which would allow online direct-to-consumer interstate sales of state-inspected meat and poultry.
“There have been significant economic and global changes since the 2018 Farm Bill was enacted, and there is an urgent need for us to give our farmers and rural communities the new tools and certainty they need to compete and grow,” Hyde-Smith said.
The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture applauded the release and pledged to engage closely through markup. CEO Ted McKinney noted the food and agriculture sector represents roughly one-fifth of U.S. economic activity and supports nearly 23 million jobs.
The American Sugar Alliance praised the bill for maintaining U.S. sugar policy and strengthening crop insurance tools. “America’s farm economy is in crisis; we cannot afford to lose more family farms or factories. It’s time to finally get a new Farm Bill across the finish line,” the Alliance said.
The National Potato Council CEO Kam Quarles thanked Chairman Boozman for “recognizing the imperative of specialty crop economic relief and his common-sense framework for delivering vital resources to America’s family-owned potato farms.”
National Farmers Union President Rob Larew offered measured support while urging the committee to go further — calling for a stronger safety net, dedicated disaster assistance funding, and mandatory country-of-origin labeling for meat and poultry. North Dakota Farmers Union President Matt Perdue similarly called on the Senate to address “missed opportunities” including competition and transparency in fertilizer markets and year-round E15.
What’s Next
The Agricultural Act of 2026 is a discussion draft. The Senate Agriculture Committee plans to hold a markup before the August recess, targeting the window between returning from the July Fourth break and when Congress leaves in August. Floor consideration would follow later this fall.
The full legislative text, a title-by-title summary, a section-by-section breakdown and an overview can be found at the links below:
Click HERE for legislative text.
Click HERE for a title-by-title summary.
Click HERE for a section-by-section.
Click HERE for an overview.