The five-year farm bill unfolding in Congress is the first since “forever chemicals” became a major worry in agriculture — and lawmakers appear far apart on how to address the issue.
Legislation approved by the House Agriculture Committee in May would add the chemicals — called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS — to a list of high-priority research topics at the Department of Agriculture.
But the House measure falls short of calls from Democrats and some environmental groups for significant funding to help farmers who’ve lost crops or livestock because of PFAS contamination in the soil.
That makes the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee — and eventually a House-Senate conference committee — the next battleground. The last five-year farm bill was enacted in 2018 and extended a year to expire Sept. 30.
