Updated at 10:40 p.m.

Rep. Bill Owens urged House Speaker John Boehner today to call the House of Representatives back to Washington to vote on the 2012 Farm Bill.

Owens voted against a measure Thursday to adjourn the House of Representatives for more than five weeks, until Sept. 10. The motion to adjourn failed by a bipartisan vote of 150-265, so to officially remain in session, the House must meet in regular pro forma sessions periodically for the next five weeks -- but no major legislative issues are expected to be addressed until September.

“I voted against adjournment because we have a limited amount of time to finish our work on the Farm Bill,” Owens said. “Federal agriculture programs critical to New York farmers will expire at the end of September.”

But Boehner’s Communication Directory, Cory Fritz, maintained "this week the House passed a responsible bill to help farmers and ranchers who are suffering from drought." He was referring to H.R. 6233, the Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2012, to make supplemental agricultural disaster assistance available costs of the assistance offset by changes to certain conservation programs, according to GovTrack.us

“It's unfortunate that Mr. Owens voted 'no' and is standing with the members of his party in the Senate who continue to block this relief package from getting to those in need," said Fritz. A link to the Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act vote is at clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll554.xml

Owens, a Democrat from Plattsburgh, is running to retain his seat in Congress facing a challenge from Republican Matt Doheny of Watertown.

“It is unacceptable for the House to leave Washington without approving its version of the bill so that negotiations may begin between the House and Senate on a final version to send to the president,” Owens said. “I urge Speaker Boehner to call the full House back to work, and both parties to work together to get this done.”

According to a statement released this afternoon, Owens, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, has for weeks urged the Republican House Leadership to build on the bipartisan work done in the committee and bring a five-year extension of the Farm Bill to the floor for a vote.

The Senate passed its version of the 2012 Farm Bill on June 21.