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Summit draws questions about the 2018 farm bill

There are more questions than answers concerning the 2018 farm bill, but a room full of people listened to projections from policy experts Wednesday.  The coming months will reveal more about how U.S. farm policy will look, according to Pat Westhoff, director of the Food and Agriculture Policy Institute in Columbia, Missouri, but the 2018 Farm Bill Summit, put on by the University of Missouri, generated a lot of questions.

The farm legislation for 2018 could look like the 2014 edition of the farm bill because producers, except for dairy and cotton producers, like what they have, and alternatives are hard to agree on, said Westhoff.  If there is no agreement, he says current policy might be extended.

University of Missouri Agriculture Economist Scott Brown says details of the next farm bill will be certain the day after the next bill is signed.