Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., have made no official announcement on releasing the senate version of the farm bill, but it looks like they will release a draft of the bill on Thursday or Friday, hold a markup next week, probably on Wednesday, and that the Senate will take up the bill before congress leaves on July 29 for the July 4 break.

A lobbyist for a key agribusiness group said that the silence from the offices of Roberts and Stabenow is an indication that they are close to agreement on a draft but are working on the details.

E&E Daily reported that Roberts said, “We’re close, we’re very close.” Roberts also noted that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have both promised to move the farm bill to the floor fast.

“In the short term, we’re going to turn to a defense authorization bill and the farm bill before the one week around July 4th,” McConnell said on Tuesday after a luncheon with fellow Republican senators, according to the Food and Environment Reporting Network.