The chances of the U.S. Congress passing a five-year farm bill by year’s end are a little better than 50/50 given the gridlock over food stamps for the poor, a top farm policy expert said this week.

“There is a slightly better chance than 50/50 that we will get a bill rolled into a budget at the end of the year. But it’s no better than that,” Barry Flinchbaugh, a Kansas State University agricultural economist who advises legislators shaping the U.S. farm bill.

The farm bill, already a year behind schedule, is the master legislation that directs government supports for farmers and food aid programs.
The bill is now with a conference committee of 41 members of Congress who are hammering out the difference between the House and Senate bills. The biggest difference: the Senate wants $4 billion cut from food stamps while the House wants to reduce the program by $40 billion.