"Skinny" Farm Bill Language Released, Markup Expected
Published Friday, February 20, 2026
Text of the “Skinny” Farm Bill, or “Farm Bill 2.0,” was finally released this past Friday by Rep. G.T. Thompson, R-Pa., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. A portal here includes several links, including the full text and various summaries, including one on specialty crops. As a refresher, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed last year, included several items that would typically be part of a full farm bill reauthorization. A critical piece of that legislation included changes and funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Separating out most of the nutrition title clouds the chances of the latest version getting passed. Historically, tying nutrition programs to farm programs has helped build bipartisan support in past iterations.
The bill will be marked up starting Feb. 23, with early discussions suggesting it could take several days to conclude. This means the House Agriculture Committee will discuss the bill at length and likely consider a long list of potential amendments. In California Farm Bureau’s initial review, the bill makes a number of improvements that would benefit California farmers, including changes to crop insurance that give extra attention to specialty crops; new funding for market access programs and research; improvements under the forestry title for regulatory reform and wildfire mitigation; and several others. The bill also includes language aimed at limiting the impacts of Proposition 12 on other states and effectively providing federal preemption to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on pesticide registration. Both provisions are likely to receive significant attention during deliberations.
Staff contact: Matthew Viohl, mviohl@cfbf.com.
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