Cultivating Change:
The 2025 Farm Bill and the Future of Regenerative Agriculture

Blog Liza LaManna, Manager of Regenerative Agriculture & Clean Water
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As we turn the page to 2025, the fight for transformative agriculture policy is far from over—despite the challenges of a slow-moving Congress and the potential of agency upheaval, the opportunity for meaningful change is still within reach. Congress wrapped up 2024 narrowly avoiding a government shutdown by passing The American Relief Act, 2025, a funding package extending government operations through March 14, 2025, providing critical disaster assistance, and yet another one-year extension to the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, otherwise known as the Farm Bill.  

Let’s start at the top. What even is the Farm Bill? 

About every five years, Congress votes on the Farm Bill, a sweeping piece of legislation that quietly shapes much of our daily lives. This multi-billion dollar bill affects a wide range of industries, from food and textile production to rural energy and high-speed broadband internet to incentives for agricultural practices and beyond. 

The process of creating the Farm Bill starts with smaller ideas, called “marker bills,” which then make up the entire draft bill. Once the House and Senate Agriculture Committees finish writing their versions of the Farm Bill, they will review, discuss, and make changes to them. After that, their versions will be sent to the full House of Representatives and the Senate, where all members will have a chance to discuss, suggest changes, and vote on them. If the Farm Bill expires before a new one is written, ag policy reverts to permanent law from 1938 and 1949, causing huge disturbances across supply chains – which is why we keep getting extensions. 

The Farm Bill is more than legislation—it’s a powerful tool

The Farm Bill is more than legislation—it’s a powerful tool that ripples across our economy, shaping everything from the cost and quality of groceries to the sustainability of our farming practices. 

With the Farm Bill, Congress has a pivotal opportunity to support policies that aid in the transition to regenerative agriculture, invest in local and regional infrastructure, and support underserved, beginning, and small farmers and farm workers. The decisions Congress makes on the Farm Bill will shape not only our food system but the broader economy and our collective future.

Check out the webinar we hosted in September 2022 to learn more about the Farm Bill and the business case for policies supporting regenerative agriculture. 

Farm Bill Updates: What you need to know

The 2018 Farm Bill was set to expire on September 30th, 2023. While Congress made some progress, neither the House nor the Senate had released draft bills by that time. To avoid economic upheaval, the bill was extended until 2024 and included mandatory funding for programs without baseline funding.

This is where things can get a little confusing. With such a big bill, there are competing priorities for a limited amount of funds. Programs such as commodities have mandatory funding or “baseline” funding that they will receive, while other programs, such as conservation, rely on annual appropriations. These are often called the “orphan programs.” We will come back to this.   

In 2024, progress on the Farm Bill seemed to be happening. Negotiations continued with a hopeful tone, and over the summer, the Republican-led House released a draft that was voted on in committee. However, it never made it to the House floor. While it passed the committee, it largely favored corporate interests. 

It did not include many of the priorities or marker bills put forward by the American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN) Regenerative Agriculture Steering Committee (formerly Working Group), such as requiring that conservation funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) be used for climate-related programs and practices. 

The senate provided a detailed framework and, at the last minute, introduced a proposal that was more in line with ASBN’s priorities. However, with little support among Republicans, it didn’t make it very far in the lame-duck session, which occurs whenever Congress meets after successor elections but before the successor’s term begins.

What does the Farm Bill have to do with the Continuing Resolution (CR) Appropriations Bill? 

At the end of December, two critical issues needed immediate attention to prevent national disruptions: approving a temporary budget for 2025 and addressing expiring agricultural policies. Without an extension, the government would shut down, and without updated agriculture policy, we would have faced the consequences of permanent laws taking effect, leading to undesirable outcomes like skyrocketing grocery prices. 

The CR Bill and The Farm Bill extension passed as part of the American Relief Act of 2025, temporarily keeping operations running. However, it wasn’t all we were hoping it would be.

The media brought attention to the drama involved in passing this CR, so I won’t recount it. In the end, it included $110 billion in disaster relief—with $31 billion for agricultural producers—and the Farm Bill extension generally preserved existing funding levels for programs with baseline funding. 

Sounds good, right?

However, it omitted $177 million for orphan programs, such as organic research, scholarships for 1890s land-grant institutions, and rural economic development loans. As funding dries up in the coming months, these programs will cease operations.

Another critical failure was the exclusion of baseline funding for conservation programs tied to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that ASBN and our allies were pushing for. Conservation efforts funded through the IRA remain operational but lack the stability of being embedded in the Farm Bill’s baseline for years to come. This omission leaves billions in critical conservation funds vulnerable to future rollbacks, jeopardizing support for farmers transitioning to regenerative practices and those outside the commodity system.

What’s ahead in 2025?

The Farm Bill negotiations will restart under new leadership in the 119th Congress. 

While 2024 was a year that fell short of expectations and was full of disappointing missed opportunities, 2025 presents vital opportunities to advocate and push for bold, transformative policies. 

Now more than ever, it’s essential for the authentic stakeholder-driven voice of business to rise above partisan divides and champion solutions that support regenerative agriculture, climate resilience, and equity in the agricultural sector. The path forward won’t be easy, but the stakes—our food system, economy, and environment—are far too high to settle for anything less than meaningful action.

Take Action Today

We have two campaigns we are calling on businesses and ASBN members to support.

Protect “Climate Guardrails” in the Farm Bill Businesses are calling on Congress to take action to ensure the continued growth of the regenerative agriculture market and the continued security and prosperity of American agriculture. The upcoming Farm Bill must use the full $20 billion allocated by the Inflation Reduction Act to support conservation programs and scale the national transition to regenerative agriculture. 
Investing in the “Missing Middle” of Supply Chains Supply chains in the U.S. agricultural sector have experienced extreme concentration as small and mid-sized slaughterhouses, grain mills, and other processing and aggregation businesses closed across the country. This ‘missing middle’ severely limits independent farmers’ and ranchers’ access to existing markets. The Farm Bill presents an opportunity to secure investments and policy changes that address this issue. Contact your representative and Senator!