The U.S. Farm Bill Extension Expires Sept. 30 – Here’s What We Know:

The current legislation contains key measures to conserve critical waterfowl habitat and to provide public access to hunting grounds

The Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, more commonly known as the 2018 Farm Bill, contains favorable provisions and programs that conserve key prairie habitat for breeding ducks, establishes additional wintering habitat, and increases funding for hunting access programs. A U.S. Farm Bill typically spans four years—this version of the legislation expired on Sept. 30, 2023, but Congress passed an extension last November that runs through Sept. 30, 2024.

Important steps toward delivering a new U.S. Farm Bill took place in the spring, when Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, chair of the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, and Rep. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-Pennsylvania, chair of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, rolled out their respective initial overviews of the Farm Bill.

As of the publishing of this article (Sept. 19), no further updates have been released regarding this critical legislation, and it is unlikely that major action will occur between now and the quickly approaching extension deadline.

“We do expect Congress to act and pass an extension before the end of the federal fiscal year (Sept. 30), which would sustain authorization and funding for core programs which have proven to be important to duck hunters like CRP, VPA-HIP, EQIP and others, and bridge the gap before consensus is reached on a new Farm Bill, likely in the next Congress,” said John Devney, chief policy officer for Delta Waterfowl. EQIP, CRP, WRE and other USDA farm programs conserve critical breeding duck habitat for mallards, pintails, teal, and many other species of waterfowl.

Importantly, in April 2020, The Natural Resources Conservation Service announced that they would implement and roll out the Prairie Pothole Water Quality and Wildlife Habitat program,  which was based closely on Delta’s Working Wetlands pilot program that was carried out across the prairie pothole states in the U.S. This was augmented by the initiation of the Migratory Bird Resurgence Initiative (MBRI) which was implemented in 2023 to expand the impact of the program. This work to secure the inclusion of these provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill provides for an important new tool to conserve the PPR’s most important and most imperiled wetlands.

Another key piece of the Farm Bill for hunters is the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program, which provides states with funding to incentivize landowners to open their private lands to public hunting.

While the immediate path forward is unclear at this time, the frameworks established by the House and outline in the Senate set the stage for committee work and the usual give and take necessary to secure consensus legislation.

“The Farm Bill requires a tremendous effort from an incredible group of people,” Devney said. “We look forward to working to ensure that the needs of ducks and duck hunters are well represented in the final Farm Bill.”

For more information, contact John Devney at jdevney@deltawaterfowl.org or (701) 222-8857 ext. 5218.