The 2018 farm bill expires as of midnight tonight. Crop insurance and federal nutrition programs are considered permanent law and are not affected. Certain programs end immediately, including the Market Access and Foreign Market Development trade promotion programs and the Specialty Crops Block Grants program. There will be no new enrollments in the CRP, but technical assistance is available. If farm bill action isn’t taken before January 1, permanent law kicks in and the government would need to pay parity price. For field crops, like corn and wheat, those prices wouldn’t happen until the 2025 crop is harvested making it extremely unlikely. However, price supports for milk and honey would begin in the New Year. Milk is the commodity that gets most of the attention, with parity prices at just shy of $50 per hundredweight.
