Mr Stallman said: “The American Farm Bureau Federation is pleased that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has introduced in the 113th Congress the same version of the farm bill that was passed by the Senate last session.

"We are also encouraged to hear that Sen. Reid is making the farm bill one of several privileged, top priority legislative actions this year.

"This represents real hope for farmers and ranchers that the Senate, like last session, will aggressively move forward on a long-term farm bill to give farmers the risk management certainty we need.

“It will ultimately take real bipartisan cooperation to get the farm bill to the finish line, and we are confident the House Agriculture Committee will craft a compatible bill.

"We are hopeful that Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and the committee’s new ranking member, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), will work quickly to build on the bipartisan work that was the hallmark of the Senate farm bill last year. And we encourage House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other members of the House to follow the example set last year by House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and ranking member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) in their actions to pass a bipartisan farm bill that worked for all Americans out of their committee.

“America’s farmers deserve the policy certainty that a five-year farm bill would provide. We need a flexible, reform-minded bill that draws its key risk management tools from crop insurance provisions. We are encouraged that the process is starting early, and we look forward to working with leaders and committees from both houses and both parties to get this long-term farm bill done.”