Split Congress could be good news for farm economy

The House flip could be a game-changer for the embattled farm bill, which must be renewed every five years, several policy experts tell Axios.Why it matters: Major safety nets for farmers are in limbo while smaller agricultural programs have stopped receiving funding altogether, creating extra anxiety for farmers who are already reeling from tariffs and lower crop prices.The 2014 farm bill expired in September, after the House and the Senate couldn't reconcile their differences.The House wants work requirements for recipients of food stamps, and to allow unlimited subsidy payments to farms, according to Ferd Hoefner, an adviser at advocacy group National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.The Senate is opposed to mandating work requirements for food stamps, and wants stricter rules for which farmers get subsidies.President Trump on Wednesday blamed Democrats for holding up the farm bill over worker requirements, but the GOP-controlled Senate did not include major food stamp changes in its version of the bill."[The farm bill] provides five years of certainty. It reduces risk... so that bankers can be more at ease in terms of extending credit to farmers," explains Tom Vilsack, a former U.S. Senator and Agriculture Secretary who currently heads the U.S. Dairy Export Council.The broadest measurement of farm profitability, net farm income, has fallen 50% since the drought-driven peak in 2013.While heavily-depended on programs like crop insurance aren't impacted, funding for 39 other programs was cut off when the current bill expired.