WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry today released the text of the Farm Bill Conference Report following months of bipartisan, bicameral negotiations. For audio and video of Senator Roberts go here.

“First, we listened to the concerns of farmers and ranchers and then we worked hard to negotiate a Farm Bill that provides producers from all regions with certainty and predictability during these very difficult times in the farm economy,” Roberts said. “We made key improvements to farm and livestock programs that will help Kansans.

“In listening to Kansans, we heard about the hard economic consequences of low prices and surpluses. Helping farmers and ranchers and the entire agriculture value chain to both better plan operations and persevere these conditions was our top priority.

“We learned what we needed to do better for emergency responses to wildfires, especially for livestock producers. We give USDA more tools to address challenges with trade. We are forward thinking on agriculture research and security, harnessing innovation to improve production and compete in a global marketplace. We have streamlined conservation programs and made commonsense reforms based on producer feedback.

“We have fixed waste, fraud and inefficiencies in our nutrition programs to better protect taxpayer dollars and ensure access to proper nutrition for the neediest among us.

“We fought to protect our rural values and way of life by helping to combat the opioid crisis. And, we improve rural broadband deployment for the farmer in the field and up and down rural main streets too.

“I urge my colleagues to listen, as we have, to farmers and ranchers and support our bill to give them the certainty and predictability they need to continue to provide the safest and most affordable food and fiber in the world. I am proud that we did the work to made responsible choices to ensure we had a budget neutral bill. I will continue to work with the White House and USDA to ensure the President signs this much needed bill into law as soon as possible.”

The Conference Report, “The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, can be found here.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote to accept the report this week. The report will then be sent to the Senate for debate and a vote before going to the President to be signed into law.

The Farm Bill Conference Committee held a public hearing on Sept. 5, 2018. Chairman Roberts, Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Colin Peterson (D-Minn.) have been negotiating Farm Bill titles since July.  Prior to that in June, the House approved their version of the Farm Bill with a vote of 213-211, and the Senate approved the Senate Farm Bill with a record setting bipartisan vote of 86-11.

Chairman Roberts, who also serves as the Chairman of the Conference Committee, fought to ensure the following provisions important to Kansans were included in the final report:

Crop Insurance

• directs research and development to improve existing policies or develop policies for quality loss, grain sorghum, and limited irrigation practices;
• allows producers to establish a single enterprise unit by combining enterprise units across counties, or enterprise units with basic units and optional units in one or more other counties;
• clarifies conditions for voluntary conservation practices to be considered as good farming practices for crop insurance purposes.

Commodity Title

• reauthorizes and improves the Price Loss Coverage (PLC), Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) County and the ARC Individual programs;
• improves the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP), the Tree Assistance Program, and the Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP).

Conservation

• maintains the primary functions of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and increases the program’s annual funding level to over $2 billion annually. Allows for certain entities to be eligible for implementing water conservation or irrigation practices under a watershed-wide project. Includes a 50 percent funding carve out for livestock practices;
• increases the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acreage enrollment cap from 24 to 27 million acres;
• includes new drought and water conservation agreements in Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREPs) that permit dryland farming, targets enrollment based upon historic state enrollment rates, and prioritizes the enrollment of marginal and environmentally sensitive lands, aligns the program with market expectations by capping rental rates, and provides additional flexibilities for haying and grazing on enrolled acres;
• improves the Emergency Conservation Program to assist producers in response to disasters like wildfires.

Trade

• Consolidates agricultural trade promotion and facilitation programs, maintaining the unique functions of each program while establishing permanent mandatory funding for agricultural export promotion activities;
• establishes a Priority Trade Fund for the Secretary to allocate additional funds to any of the four export programs to address immediate or additional needs. This allows the Secretary more flexibility;
• continues support for critical international food security programs including Food for Peace (P.L. 480 Title II), Food for Progress, the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program, and Local and Regional Food Aid Procurement Projects.

Credit

• extends and reauthorizes Department of Agriculture farm loan programs that are critical to our nation’s producers especially during these difficult economic conditions. The title also provides Farm Credit Administration with modernized enforcement and receivership authority consistent with other financial regulators.

Rural Development

• prioritizes funding in the Community Facilities and Distance Learning and Telemedicine programs for projects addressing prevention and treatment of substance abuse, specifically opioids;
• allows for USDA to leverage grants along with loans and loan guarantees to fund projects that deploy high-speed broadband throughout rural America.

Research

• increases Federal investment in agricultural research, including additional mandatory funding of $185 million for the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research;
• establishes the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AGARDA) pilot, a new authority at USDA intended to carry out advanced research and development of qualified products and projects, agricultural technologies, and research tools.

Miscellaneous

• revises existing National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) authority to  establish the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program and the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank. This will allow for stockpiling of necessary countermeasures to respond to the most damaging animal diseases, including Foot and Mouth Disease;
• extends benefits to veterans including FSA down payment loans, reduced interest rates on guaranteed loans, increased coverage under ELAP, reduced premiums for Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, and increased focus from the Food Safety Outreach Program and the Federal Crop Insurance Education Program to individuals that obtained veteran status within the last ten years. This provision is similar to a bill offered by Senators Roberts and Stabenow earlier this Congress.

This is Chairman Roberts’ eighth Farm Bill, and will be his second to be signed into law as a Chairman. Senator Roberts is the first member of Congress to chair both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees.

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