Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., took part in a roundtable discussion in Lexington on Tuesday. The two met with state and local agriculture leaders to discuss the new Farm Bill being drafted in Washington.

The Farm Bill is a massive spending and policy package passed every five years. The most recent version expires this year, meaning lawmakers are working now to decide what needs to be included in the new legislation.

“I have proudly served on the Agriculture Committee since my first day in the Senate and understand exactly how important the Farm Bill is to agricultural communities across Kentucky,” McConnell said in a statement.

“Senator McConnell asked us to come out,” Boozman told reporters. “What we are doing is just listening to our producers.”

As the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, Boozman has been traveling to speak with different community leaders around the country about agricultural policy.

“We’re blessed with the cheapest, safest food supply of any place in the world,” Boozman said during a press conference. “We have a lot of people who work so, so very hard to make that happen, so we are listening to them, seeing what they need.”

The discussion in Lexington included input from Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles and Dean of the University of Kentucky’s Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Nancy Cox.

“As a land-grant university, we have a long history of supporting agriculture and providing education, research and outreach to help Kentuckians thrive,” Cox said. “We believe that this discussion will be a valuable opportunity to hear from state and local stakeholders about their priorities for the Farm Bill and to share our own expertise, and we are grateful to our elected policymakers for this opportunity.”

After the roundtable, McConnell was asked what might make this Farm Bill different from the one passed in 2018. He said the recent agreement between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and President Joe Biden (D) to raise the debt ceiling might put limits on the new legislation.

“New spending is going to be hard to come by,” McConnell said. “We passed an agreement with the debt ceiling to put a cap on spending and so a lot of additional spending in this Farm Bill seems to be unlikely.”

Congress and the president face a late September deadline to renew the Farm Bill.