The Agriculture Act of 2026 failed on Aug. 6, after the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry was unable to come to an agreement on moving the farm bill forward after a more than four-hour debate.
The bill failed in a 10-to-11 party-line vote, with Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) President Russell Boening stating that TFB was “very disappointed”.
“Chairman Boozman and his team worked in good faith to build bipartisan support for a new farm bill. The committee’s failure to act is a major setback in passing a modern farm bill this Congress leaves Texas farm and ranch families held hostage to political theater,” said Boening.
The bill featured the year-round sale of E15, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines as gasoline blended with 10.5% to 15% ethanol, updates and increases to credit and loan limits and expanded programs and support for risk management tools for specialty crop growers.
Committee Chairman John Boozman originally unveiled the 900-plus page legislation in late June, stating that “farm bill 2.0 built upon improvements made to Title 1 crop programs by the Working Families Tax Cuts Act of 2025, bolstered animal health programs, addressed barriers to trade, expanded the Livestock Indemnity Program, as well as rural broadband, and included more than 100 bipartisan bills.”
“These are families who rise before dawn every day to grow the food, fuel and fiber that sustain our nation. They aren’t asking for special treatment. They’re asking for the certainty and support they need to keep farming. They’re looking for us to act. They’re looking to us for hope,” said Boozman. “This farm bill provides that hope. It gives producers the tools and the confidence they need to keep farming, keep investing and keep it such that they feed America.”
After the vote, Boozman stated that he was “deeply disappointed democrats on the agriculture committee voted against advancing the farm bill.”
A big hangup in the bill is Democrats who opposed the bill because it included a single- year delay in the cost share for states for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rather than the two-year delay they sought.
“We simply are asking for two years, which by the way, is only 10% of the total SNAP cuts made in the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill,” said Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar.
More than 200 amendments were initially offered on the farm bill, with democrats expressing support for the provisions in the bill that allowed for the yearround sales of E15, increased resources for trade promotion and the strengthening of the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network.
“The bill includes several items I have championed, like the new fertilizer price reporting system and the proposal to improve and add flexibility to the Conservation Reserve Program,” said Klobuchar.
According to the TFB’s Texas Agriculture Daily, Boozman can call the committee back to vote on the farm bill again when they return to Washington after their 5-week recess, which began last Friday.
The House Agriculture Committee passed its version of the farm bill, The Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026, in March. The House of Representatives went on to pass the legislation a month later.