Closeup of United States Capital buildingAccording to University of Illinois Associate Professor Jonathan Coppess, there is little reason for optimism that Congress will pass the new farm bill this year. The chances of farm bill reauthorization in 2024 grow more dim with each passing day.

Farm groups have issued their priorities as higher reference prices and do no harm to the crop insurance program. The leadership of both the House and Senate Agriculture committees has been trying for months to come up with a way to pay for higher reference prices, with strong opposition coming from Democrats in cutting climate funding or SNAP.

Read more on the challenges facing the new farm bill here.