US Rep. Jim McGovern, a member of the House Agriculture Committee who represents Central Mass., isn’t enthusiastic about the prospects for a Farm Bill, which is ordinarily debated and passed in five-year increments and is due for action this year.

But that’s good news, he told partisans gathered over lunch Saturday during the winter meeting of the state chapter of Northeast Organic Farming Association.

“I don’t think you want a Farm Bill to go to the House this year. It would decimate SNAP,” the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the food-stamp program. Republicans “are focusing in on the SNAP program. It’s brought up constantly.”

“I think whatever would come out of the House would be ugly and terrible. Right now, it’s a very bad climate to talk about this stuff. ... My hope is that after November, things will be a little bit better.”

No rule or law says the Farm Bill, which many advocates would be more rightly called the "Food Bill," must be reviewed every five years, and sometimes, it is extended another year. Because 2012 is an election year, it would not be surprising if the House and Senate pushed off action until 2013.