Mary Kay Thatcher, senior director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation, welcomes Chandler Goule, vice president for government relations at the National Farmers Union, to Farm Bureau’s annual holiday party, Taste of the States, on Tuesday evening. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)

As congressional staff continued to work on finalizing the farm bill Wednesday evening, hundreds of American Farm Bureau Federation members and Washington lobbyists attending Farm Bureau’s annual Taste of the States event speculated on the finer points of how the bill may turn out.

Several lobbyists said that congressional staff are declining to provide details at this point, a factor that makes them believe that the bill is nearly done, but makes them nervous about how the final product may affect their clients.

Lobbyists said they now expect an open conference meeting January 7, 8 or 9 or possibly some combination of those days.

They also said that they expect public votes on proposals on changing the country-of-origin labeling for red meat law, on changes to the Packers and Stockyards Act provision in the 2008 farm bill, on the interstate commerce amendment sponsored by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, and on the repeal of the 2008 farm bill provision that would move inspection of catfish from the Food and Drug Administration to the Agriculture Department.

One prominent lobbyist speculated that there might be some announcement from the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Agriculture committees before the Senate leaves Friday, but House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., have said they want to present the framework to all conferees before releasing it in January.