As of this morning, October 17, the partial federal shutdown has lifted and non-essential federal employees are back at work, at least temporarily. The agreement reached late Wednesday night funds the government until January 15, raises the debt limit until February 7, and establishes yet another bipartisan committee to discuss next steps. This agreement, however, did nothing to resolve the continuing impasse on the Farm Bill.

With regard to the Farm Bill, however, an important step was taken last week with the naming of House conferees. On the majority side (Republican), the conferees include 12 members of the House Agriculture Committee: Chairman Frank Lucas, Okla.; Reps. Steve King, Iowa; Randy Neugebauer, Texas; Mike Rodgers, Ala.; Michael Conaway, Texas; Glenn Thompson, Pa.; Austin Scott, Ga.; Rick Crawford, Ark.; Martha Roby, Ala.; Kristi Noem, S.D.; Jeff Denham, Calif.; and Rodney Davis, Ill. The Republican conferees also include Chairman Ed Royce, Calif., and Rep. Tom Marino, Pa., from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairman Dave Camp, Mich., and Rep. Sam Johnson, Texas, from the House Ways and Means Committee, and a leadership conferee, Rep. Steve Southerland, Fla.

The Democratic conferees from the Agriculture Committee are: ranking member Collin Peterson, Minn.; Reps. Mike McIntyre, N.C.; Jim Costa, Calif.; Tim Walz, Minn.; Kurt Schrader, Ore.; Jim McGovern, Mass.; Suzan DelBene, Wash.; Gloria Negrete McLeod, Calif.; and Filemon Vela, Texas. Ranking member Eliot Engel, N.Y., represents the House Foreign Affairs Committee; ranking member Sandy Levin, Mich., represents House Ways and Means; and Rep. Marcia Fudge, Ohio, is the Democratic leadership conferee.

The conferees must deal with a wide range of issues, the biggest of which is a deep disagreement between the parties over the savings to be sought from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development Program (FMD) are USDA’s key export promotion programs, and both enjoy broad bipartisan support. Agriculture is a U.S. trade champion, and MAP and FMD are proven and successful platforms for the unique public-private partnership that has made the United States the world’s leading agricultural exporter.

The most recent Farm Bill extension expired on September 30. Passage of a new Farm Bill is essential to keeping the nation’s export promotion programs functioning. This is an opportune time to make concerns known to members of Congress, and especially to the conferees.