The House and Senate will appoint conferees to the farm bill conference committee this week and begin work on a compromise final version. Based on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates, the Senate bill would increase net direct spending over the 2019-2023 period by $1.4 billion, while the House bill would boost it by $3.2 billion. For commodity programs in Title I, the House bill would increase net spending over the five-year period by $150 million, but the Senate would decrease it by about $145 million.

The changes come from reforms in the respective bills. The House farm bill would revise how Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments are calculated and establish new reference prices to allow an inflation adjustment over a period of high...