The 2018 farm bill expired at midnight on September 30, leaving Washington wheat growers without an updated safety net as harvest wraps and winter planting begins.

The lapse ended authority for new obligations under the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs, froze sign-ups for several conservation programs, and left commodity support operating under 1949 permanent law — a framework Congress has never allowed to take effect.

Lawmakers passed a one-year extension last fall after missing the September 30, 2023 deadline. With no new extension in place, the same programs face a second lapse in as many years.

Crop insurance remains the main exception: policies sold and serviced under the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation continue to operate without interruption. Growers with coverage in force keep their protection, though administrative funding could tighten if the shutdown drags on.

Washington farm groups say the state's wheat sector is exposed on two fronts. Roughly 85 percent of the state's wheat acres are insured, but revenue guarantees were set under 2023 price elections, and a second year without higher reference prices erodes coverage relative to production costs.

The House passed its farm bill reauthorization in late September on a party-line vote. Senate Agriculture Committee leaders have not released bipartisan text, and farm-state senators say the gap centers on commodity title spending and Inflation Reduction Act conservation dollars.

A short-term extension tied to the continuing resolution remains the likeliest path to restoring program authority, but negotiators have not announced a timeline.

Until then, growers face planting decisions for 2025 with reference prices, loan rates and program formulas frozen at levels set in the 2018 law.