At the North Dakota Bankers Association's Ag Credit Conference last week, Senator John Hoeven outlined his efforts as Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee to support farmers and ranchers. This includes gathering feedback from North Dakota producers, commodity groups and other agri-businesses as work begins on the next farm bill. To this end, Hoeven recently hosted Senator John Boozman, Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, in North Dakota for a discussion with local producers and commodity groups.
"Our farmers and ranchers can compete with anyone, anywhere in the world, and it's through their work that Americans have the most affordable, highest-quality food supply in the world," said Hoeven. "As we start working on the next farm bill, it's vital that North Dakotans can provide direct input on the process. This includes our financial institutions, which play an important role in ensuring farmers and ranchers have access to the capital they need for their operations."
Among other efforts, Hoeven is working to advance the following priorities in the next farm bill:
- Maintaining strong crop insurance, the primary risk management tool for many producers.
- Improving the farm safety net, including the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs.
- Strengthening livestock disaster programs, including the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Livestock Forage Program (LFP) and the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP).
- Cutting red-tape and ensuring programs are farmer-friendly.
Categories: North Dakota, General, Government & Policy