The One Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law by President Trump on the 4th of July and is our #3 agriculture story of 2025. Many of the agricultural provisions that would normally be seen in a farm bill were included in this legislation. It used the budget reconciliation law and has a significant impact on U.S. farmers. It made the 2017 tax cuts permanent. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins also cited changes to the estate tax. “This is a game changer on how we keep farms in the family and out of the hands of the Chinese and foreign ownership,” said Rollins. Along with the increase in reference prices, enhancements were made to crop insurance and payment limits increased. There was controversy with the One Big Beautiful Bill, particularly with significant cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. There was hope a so-called ‘skinny’ farm bill would be passed to cover the non-budgetary items typically seen in a five-year farm bill. Instead of that, Congress passed its third extension of the 2018 farm bill.
