Work on a farm bill may not start in earnest until May - after Congress writes a budget and deals with the next debt ceiling cliff. A number and a commitment - that’s what House Ag Top Democrat Collin Peterson said recently it would take to do serious work on a farm bill. But neither may come until after tough House-Senate bargaining on a federal budget and a May 18th deadline to raise the nation’s borrowing limit - which Treasury could stretch until August. Iowa Ag Senator Chuck Grassley says preliminary farm bill work could start well before that in the Senate