BATON ROUGE - Louisiana farmers are in limbo after a safety net bill passed in 2018 expired last month, leaving some unprotected from emergencies.

The bill distributes money for crop insurance and disaster relief, something sugar cane farmer Travis Medine says is essential.

“Without the safety net, it's hard for us to continue a multi-year rotation, not knowing that the safety net's going to be there from year to year to help you keep going,” Medina said.

Washington is on a deadline, needing to pass the expired measure before programs under it start losing funding starting in December.

"It's a very large bill, estimated to be over a trillion dollars, over 10 years. the majority of that does go to food security through SNAP, WIC,” Director of Commodities and Public Policy for the Louisiana Farm Bureau Andy Brown said.

Brown says at this point, it’s too late for lawmakers to just pass the existing bill. Instead, he proposes Congress also pass assistance to help get farmers into the 2025 crop. Another issue is that the amount allocated for farmers hasn’t changed in six years to accommodate for inflation.

"That bill has protections, but it's based on 2018 prices, 2018 inputs, 2018 costs. Well, anybody out there knows what the price of everything from 2018 to now,” Medine said.

Sen. Bill Cassidy held a meeting Wednesday afternoon in West Baton Rouge Parish to discuss a path forward.

"It's about providing certainty to the people that feed us three times a day, provide us fabric for our clothing, and give us a roof over the heads, that's our goal," Cassidy said.