Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 6/13/18

The Senate Ag Committee will gather this morning to kick off debate on the farm bill in what will likely be a rare moment of bipartisanship in the 115th Congress as Republicans and Democrats work to craft a measure capable of reaching the floor quickly.

The Senate farm bill process has been remarkably free of partisan finger-pointing compared with the House's rocky path.
POLITICO obtained a list of more than 180 amendments that had been offered from both sides of the aisle by the Monday evening deadline. Debate over commodity subsidies, conservation assistance and renewable energy is likely to dominate the meeting, as opposed to the House markup in April, when fierce, partisan speeches over proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program underscored a breakdown in negotiations and a Republican-only amendment process.

Senators and their staff spent the hours leading up to the markup sorting out lingering issues, such as which of the noncontroversial amendments would be included in a manager's package.

What to watch: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) could introduce an amendment limiting subsidy payments to farmers, an issue that he's debated back and forth with Senate Ag Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.). Grassley said Tuesday he was still having conversations with the committee about potential subsidy amendments.

Keep an eye out for an amendment from Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) that would adjust the formula for calculating Agriculture Risk Coverage payments to send additional assistance to the majority of Midwestern corn and soybean growers who have enrolled in the program, while target crop prices set by Congress in PLC would be capped at their 10-year average — effectively reducing support for Southern crops like peanuts, rice and cotton.

John Hoeven (R-N.D.) may tackle USDA farm loans by introducing an amendment that would raise the amount of money the department can guarantee and lend directly. Under his amendment, the threshold for guaranteed operating and ownership loans would rise from $1.39 million to $2.5 million, while direct operating and ownership loans would increase from $300,000 to $600,000.

Farmers flooding D.C.: Today's markup comes as scores of farmers are flying in to Washington this week to advocate for farm bill issues. The National Young Farmers Coalition, for one, met Tuesday with lawmakers to discuss conservation issues, and are headed to USDA today. Andrew Bahrenburg, the group's national policy director, told Morning Ag that his members are much happier with the Senate farm bill than the House version.

"There are a lot of things for young farmers to like," Bahrenburg said. "The Senate bill is miles ahead of the House bill. The House bill we ultimately opposed because it made much deeper cuts to conservation programs. It just gutted way too many programs that our farmers rely on."