Lawmakers in the House of Representatives began the first major steps to reaching the finish line for a new farm bill with a mark-up session held Thursday, May 23.

The bill, however, needs bipartisan support to move forward, American Farm Bureau Federation Government Affairs Director Joe Gibson said.

“With the tight margins in the House—Republicans have a majority of five—we need the bill to be a bipartisan bill. Otherwise, this will not make it to the House floor,” Gibson said. “We know that there are some Republicans who will vote against any new spending. And so, this bill, if it has a chance to make it in this Congress, needs to be done with bipartisanship, and that’s what we hope to see.”

History shows the farm bill has always been a bipartisan effort, bringing broad swaths of food and agriculture together, Gibson noted.

“The farm bill has always been done in a bipartisan basis with a coalition of nutrition, environmental and farm commodity organizations, and constituents from across the country supporting this,” he said. “We need to keep that coalition together to get the bill across the finish line, and farmers and ranchers across the country need to see investments made in the farm safety net.”

Farm Bureau supports the bill presented by House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson.

“His mark has some huge investments made to the farm safety net in Title I. He also has a provision in there to maintain interstate commerce for agricultural products, which deals with what California has done with Proposition 12,” Gibson said. “Chairman Thompson also has improvements to the dairy program, and there’s more conservation resources to help farmers protect resources they’ve been entrusted with.”

Also included in the bill are feral hog eradication funds, assistance for farmers along the U.S-Mexico border and a provision to address the water issue with Mexico.

Learn more about the farm bill at fb.org/farmbill.