Summary: Can both the House and Senate pass a Farm Bill and get Obama to sign it before the November election? Can they even get a transportation bill done before March 31, 2012? Offices closures are going to be a hot topic this summer. No not USDA FSA/NRCS/RD offices, but local Post Offices are scheduled to be closed. Will the new debt limit just passed late last year be hit before or after the November 2012 election? Remember all the processes and cussing and discussing that went on to get the debt limit raised last fall. Can a farm bill be even brought up in that atmosphere? Will farm groups agree on something, agree to disagree, or fight amongst themselves? Will crop insurance and CRP be the only real big farm bill programs in the end? Maybe not this farm bill but in the next one? The real hangups I see are; how direct payments are replaced and will the boys down south with rice and peanuts and cotton get anywhere near that level of payment with an insurance type program, will there be any administrative changes to food assistance, and how will the environmental lobby react to cuts in conservation payments?
