Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 11/7/18

House Republicans have a SNAP decision to make. Conaway and the GOP conference have to consider whether to give ground on some of the biggest farm bill disputes — like conservation, commodity policy, and, of course, work requirements for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients — to get a bill passed this year. Striking a deal while they still have the majority would help House Republicans preserve some of their priorities before they lose leverage, our Catherine Boudreau writes today.

If there's no lame-duck deal: House Democrats could start from scratch when the new Congress begins next year. That may not be something industry wants to see. The Democratic members could seek to pull the farm bill to the left with amendments to rein in subsidies for wealthy farmers or to adjust federal crop insurance.

— Ranking member Collin Peterson, who won a close race Tuesday and is expected to retake the House Agriculture gavel, has said he doesn't want to start over and write his own farm bill. (The Minnesota Democrat has embraced the Senate-passed bill, S. 3042 (115), which drew bipartisan support.)

"I think the farm bill gets done pretty fast," said Callie Eideberg, senior policy manager at the Environmental Defense Fund. Chuck Conner, president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, said he thinks Conaway "wanted this thing done in the lame-duck no matter what" the election outcome was.

On the other hand: Sen. Chuck Grassley predicted Democrats will wait to restart the farm bill process in 2019 so they can write legislation without the SNAP provisions in the current House measure, H.R. 2 (115). "I would guess, unless the House very quickly backs down on food stamps, that we're going to have a one-year extension and debate a new farm bill next year," the Iowa Republican told reporters on a conference call.