Editor’s note: Steve Brawner, the author of this column, is syndicated to 24 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.

Sen. John Boozman seeks the limelight less than just about any U.S. senator, but he took center stage – for a few minutes – on Tuesday.

It happened when he introduced the first draft of the Agriculture Act of 2026, which he is also calling “Farm Bill 2.0.”

Boozman introduced the bill because he is chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and the Farm Bill falls within his jurisdiction.

The current Farm Bill expires Sept. 30, but it is basically an extension of the 2018 version that had been set to expire in 2023. As Boozman noted, this latest reauthorization is three years late. It would replace an eight-year-old bill that was based on 2012 data.

It comes as row crop farmers are struggling through a historically bad farm economy that is forcing some growers to leave the business. They cannot turn a profit because of rising input costs and because of prices that depend on the world market.

Boozman’s bill contains a number of provisions, including increased Farm Service Agency loan limits that he said better reflect today’s realities.

“The current caps simply fail to reflect current economic conditions,” he said on the Senate floor. “This bipartisan provision is not optional. It is essential to ensuring producers have the financing that they need at a critical time for American agriculture.”

The bill includes numerous rural development policies, such as broadband expansion and other infrastructure enhancements. It enables water systems to aid struggling neighboring systems and establishes a Commission on Rural Maternal Health.

It also is designed to increase trade by more than doubling funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program.

And it increases international food assistance efforts. Boozman said he has always supported U.S. foreign aid to impoverished nations that then buy American farm products. He hopes the bill’s final version moves the Food for Peace program from the State Department to the Department of Agriculture. He said Secretary of State Marco Rubio supports the idea.

Boozman said 80-85% of the Farm Bill has already been passed through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was President Trump’s big tax cut bill that he signed into law last year.

That bill provided money for farmers, but they need additional “bridge” payments before some of that money becomes available. However, that money won’t be in this bill.

Boozman said it would better come through a supplemental appropriations bill that would include President Trump’s request for additional military spending.

The problem is that farmers need that money now, and the defense request has plenty of opponents.

Boozman expressed some confidence that the Senate will pass his bill before it goes into recess after August 7. That’s when the campaign season will really heat up, and not much will get done. He said it closely mirrors the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, which the House of Representatives has already passed. Majority Leader John Thune represents farm state South Dakota and is committed to giving the bill its needed air time.

Boozman noted that his bill includes a lot of bipartisan priorities, which would be consistent with how he has often described his committee as one that governs in a bipartisan manner.

Still, there are partisan differences. Democrats don’t like that the bill doesn’t change the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s requirement that states enforce work requirements for beneficiaries of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. That program was known as “food stamps” in the past. The Big, Beautiful Bill also requires states to cover more administrative costs and benefit expenses.

Boozman was first elected to the Senate in 2010 after previously serving in the House of Representatives, so he has been in Washington a long time. He has worked himself into a leadership position on a subject that’s vital to Arkansas – especially now.

His efforts come at a time when it’s especially difficult to get anything done in Washington. The day after he introduced the bill, President Trump cancelled a signing ceremony for a housing bill supported by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

Arkansas’ Rep. French Hill played a big part in creating that bill. Trump wants Congress to also pass his elections bill.

That’s politics.

Meanwhile, farmers need lawmakers to govern – now.