b'Inside the Farm Bill Fight:Is There a Case for a Full Five-Year BillASTA director of government affairs Brandon Pachman walks seed professionals through the politics, history and high stakes behind a Farm Bill that keeps slipping into extensions.By Aimee Nielson, Seed World U.S. EditorTHE UNITED STATESis operating on a Farm Bill writtenExtensions Arent a Strategyseven years ago, patched together by temporary exten- This Farm Bill expired years sions, and stretched far beyond the farm economy it wasago. Congress has passed designed for. Crop prices have swung, trade patterns havemultiple extensions instead of fractured, conservation demands have surged and politicalproducing a full reauthoriza-coalitions that once made the bill possible have weakened. Astion. Pachman didnt sugar-the industry waits for Congress to restart the process, ASTAcoat the problem.Director of Government Affairs Brandon Pachman is one ofA farm bill extension is like the few voices cutting through the noise to explain what thesereplacing a wet ceiling tile, he delays mean for seed companies and the growers they serve. says. A full five-year Farm Bill Before he dove into the foundations, Pachman addressedis fixing the leaky pipe.the headline news of the week: the $12 billion aid packageExtensions keep fund- Brandon Pachman, ASTA announced by USDA. ing steady but freeze policyDirector of Government Were going to start this Farm Bill presentation by talk- in place. As the agriculturalAffairsing about something besides the Farm Bill, he says. Chinaeconomy shifts around weather extremes, trade instability and has been buying a lot less of American soybeans, so theinput costs, the 2018 framework grows more outdated.Department of Agriculture is tapping the Commodity CreditIts going to get increasingly outdated because agriculture Corporation to provide assistance. has advanced and the farm economy has changed over time, That framing set the tone. Nothing about this moment inhe says.agricultural policy is tidy or predictable. Yet Pachman kept theThe longer Congress waits, the harder the reset becomes.discussion grounded in what seed companies need to under-stand. Where Farm Bill Touches the Seed IndustryAs questions surfaced about what parts of the Farm Bill The Origins That Still Shape the Law matter most to seed companies, Pachman linked the pro-Pachman moved from the present to the past with a remindergrams structure to industry realities.that the Farm Bills roots run deeper than most remember. When the farm economy does well, its good for the seed Between 1930 and 1935 something like 75,000 farmsindustry, he says.actually went bankrupt, he says. He walked the audience through the three legs of the farm He explained that the Agriculture Adjustment Act was con- safety net, then spent time on the titles that most directly troversial, unprecedented and necessary. It created a safetyinfluence seed demand, breeding innovation and global net that slowly evolved into the sprawling 12-title modern Farmmarket access.Bill. Congress revisited it every five years and built coalitionsThe research title is arguably one of the most important around it because no single interest group could pass its pri- titles for the seed industry, he says. It funds land grant insti-orities alone. tutions and direct grants for projects that advance genetics Over time, Congress got in the habit of passing theseand production.bills every five years, he says. And that coalition is really theTrade policy sits close behind.magic of the Farm Bill. Exports are an essential part of the ag economy, he That magic, he noted, has been harder to recreate insays. Canada and Mexico are some of the largest markets for todays political environment. American seeds.20/ SEEDWORLD.COMJANUARY 2026'