Final Farm Bill Shows Hemp's In, Food-Aid Work Requirements Are Out

The long-awaited final version of the farm bill was unveiled Monday night, and it hews somewhat closely to the previous piece of massive legislation — aside from legalizing hemp on a national level.

The farm bill has been in conference committee for months, with the sticking points being stricter work requirements for federal food aid and a last-minute request from the White House to change forestry rules in the wake of the deadly wildfires in California. Congress blew past the Sept. 30 expiration date of the last farm bill and didn’t pass a stopgap measure.

The overall cost is expected to be $867 billion over 10 years, and the Congressional Budget Office said it would "increase direct spending by $1.8 billion and revenues by $35 million" over a five-year period starting in 2019.

Senate Agriculture Committee leader Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, told Harvest Public Media that the bill will "enable producers certainty and predictability and for them to go to their lender and say 'We're good' for the next five years." Collin Peterson, the ranking Democrat on the House Ag Committee, said in a statement that it invests in things like "local and organic food production, bioenergy, and access to new markets."