There is little reason for optimism that Congress will pass the new farm bill this year, wrote farm policy expert Jonathan Coppess on Thursday as part of an analysis showing that farm program payments favor Southern growers. “The chances of farm bill reauthorization in 2024 grow more dim with each passing day, and analysis begins to take on the tenor of postmortem.”
 
Writing at the farmdoc daily blog, Coppess compared basic input costs for crops in each state with payments for farm programs, including conservation programs. Proportionally, Southern states benefited the most. “There is little doubt that these disparities are fueling at least some of the demands that are causing the impasse” in the farm bill debate, said Coppess, an associate professor at the University of Illinois.
 
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