Lost in the debate is the original intent to scrap the tax on fuel used to dry grains and oilseeds. It's now a full-blown political football.
This is not the first time that a farm bill has kept the House of Commons working overtime.
Legislation to establish national supply management agencies was subjected to amendment after amendment, right into Christmas Eve.
What finally passed was legislation that in some respects was self-contradictory.
What many farmers forget is that it was not former agriculture minister Eugene Whelan who was in charge.
It was actually Bud Olson, a former Social Credit MP from Alberta.
I was sitting in the room when all of the provincial agriculture ministers pleaded with Olson to draft and pass the legislation.
They wanted it because it would end the chicken and egg war between Ontario and Quebec. Marketing boards in those provinces were dumping their products across the border, effectively undermining supply management.
Olson told them he was a rancher and personally opposed to supply management. He said he would introduce the legislation, but would not support it during debate. He told the provincial agriculture ministers it would be up to them.
Things went well at first, but Jack Horner, a feisty Conservative from Alberta, threw sand into the gears.
It took a long time to clear the Agriculture Committee intact.
But in the House, Horner started stalling passage with amendments.
And he was making things so miserable for the Liberals that Conservative leader John Stanfield finally saw the opportunity to make political hay.
And Olson had no choice but to publicly support the legislation he privately detested.
Horner's lasting legacy is a number of clauses which make it impossible to do key things unless and until there is unanimous approval.
And not only unanimous approval among the provincial marketing boards, but also among provincial ministers of agriculture.
And not only on the main point - setting up a national agency - but also changes, some of them on clearly secondary matters.
It's been impossible to achieve that degree of support which is why the crazy legislation that finally cleared the House of Commons and the Senate has never been changed.
