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The 39th president regularly showed minimal regard for the political implications of his decisions, notably in farm policy. From commodity price supports to the Soviet grain embargo, Carter often made a choice he felt was right for the country, only to see the decision backfire politically.

Jimmy Carter, the former president and statesman who died Sunday at 100, was famously proud of being a peanut farmer and is being remembered for working to address food insecurity through modern farming practices and technology, and for giving time to help his old industry. 

In 2024, rural America played a large role in carrying Donald Trump to the White House for a second time. Across the country, hurricanes damaged ag infrastructure in Florida, the Carolinas and the Southeastern U.S., and H5N1 spread to dairy cattle. 

After months of development, the farm bill passed out of the House Ag Committee with four Democratic votes and guarded optimism, but it never even made it to the House floor, ultimately leading to another one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill.

The sparring over a year-end stopgap funding bill should cast doubt on the viability of pursuing a two-bill approach to enacting President-elect Donald Trump’s policy agenda next year, lawmakers say.

After a week of high drama, the Senate cleared a stopgap spending bill early Saturday that includes $21 billion in ag disaster assistance, $10 billion in market relief for farmers, and a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill. Dropped from the bill was a debt limit increase that President-elect Donald Trump had demanded. 

House GOP leaders were left searching for a way to avoid a government shutdown after the House soundly rejected the latest stopgap spending bill. FDA food chief sees some alignment with RFK, while senators form a MAHA caucus.

A partial government shutdown loomed closer Thursday night after the House soundly defeated a scaled-down stopgap spending bill that included a debt-limit increase President-elect Donald Trump demanded, plus economic assistance for farmers.

Elon Musk’s full-throated opposition to a massive stopgap funding bill forced House GOP leaders to rethink the legislation, leaving in doubt $31 billion in disaster aid and market relief for farmers.  President-elect Donald Trump left the door open to supporting a stripped-down bill with farm aid included. 

President-elect Donald Trump’s selection for agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, told Agri-Pulse Wednesday her meetings with senators this week have been "extremely productive" and highlighted the regional and bipartisan nature of farm policy.

Farm groups have a lot to cheer in the massive year-end funding bill that congressional leaders finally released Tuesday evening. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson wants to take up a new farm bill early in 2025, and he says he's encouraging farm groups to "relax" about RFK Jr.