Some Washington Insider contacts are beginning to hear talk of a possible two-year extension of the current farm bill, should fiscal and political realities cause the farm-bill writing process to become overly difficult. Such talk was more common last year, but died down after Democrats took control of both houses of Congress in January.

There clearly is more interest in this farm bill among non-farm interests than at any time in at least 30 years, Washington Insider believes. Some see the farm bill providing the only opportunity this year to make a major difference in conservation and clean air and water initiatives. Others who have been reading stories about inequities built into the current programs are promoting reform in the name of fairness. And then there are the supporters of renewable energy, traditional agricultural research programs, and improved federal feeding and nutrition programs, each of which wants well-funded improvements in their particular area of interest.

Heightened awareness of the farm bill, coupled with funding that looks to be tighter than at any time in recent memory, could make reauthorization of the 2002 farm bill so difficult that a simple extension might represent the path of least resistance. At least that's one theory being tossed around in Washington this week.