With the current, extended Farm Bill set to expire Dec. 31, Washington-based journalists met Dec. 5 with Farm Bill and dairy expert Andrew Novakovic, professor in Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, to discuss the legislative possibilities. 

What does Congress need to pass a Farm Bill? Peace, love and compromise: “The House is divisive in ways that no one can remember,” Novakovic said, noting that some political scientists have written “that this may be the most divisive Congress since Reconstruction. If we had a little different Congress, where one was amenable to compromise, [maybe we] could we get back to a [regularly scheduled] farm and food bill.”

Novakovic explained to the journalists that fewer Congressional members than in the past understand the intricacies of agriculture. “There are more challenges to passing farm bill legislation in the 21st century, simply because people don’t understand farming anymore,” he said. “Things that make a lot of sense to agriculture just don’t make any sense to people who don’t know anything about agriculture – and they don’t want to listen to your explanation.”

Instead of five-year intervals to determine agricultural policies, Novakovic was asked if permanent agricultural law could possibly take the place of farm bills? Federal agriculture laws from the Great Depression and New Deal eras – although dormant – remain on the books. “Existing permanent law, tracing to the 1930s and ’40s, would be a nightmare,” said Novakovic. A modern revision to create a new permanent law is a laudable goal, he explained, but not likely to be politically achievable or economically practicable.

In the absence of a proper, new farm bill, some kind of extension is inevitable.  “A two-year extension is a popular scenario. If we get into an extension scenario again, this would surely be a political disappointment, but not an economic disaster,” although he thought Congress should pass a farm bill.

The event, held at the Hall of the States, was part of the Inside Cornell series, at which high-interest experts from Cornell speak with members of the media. Novakovic, professor of agricultural economics, is the author of more than 400 publications, including 40 peer-reviewed articles. He served as chair of the Dairy Industry Advisory Committee, established by the Secretary of Agriculture, 2010-11.