The Agriculture Data Act would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to collect, collate, integrate, and link data relating to the impacts of covered conservation practices on enhancing crop yields, soil health, and otherwise reducing risk and improving farm and ranch profitability 

The amendment is supported by the National Wildlife Federation, the Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Defense Fund, the American Soybean Association, Cargill, the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and AGree 

The 2018 Farm Bill is expected to come before the Senate Agriculture Committee in the coming weeks

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, pushed for the inclusion of her bipartisan legislation in the 2018 Farm Bill that would improve agriculture data research of conservation practices to help farmers reduce risk and increase profitability in the 2018 Farm Bill. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) currently manages and stores valuable producer data, but the data can be better utilized to inform producer understanding about which conservation practices reduce risk and improve profitability.

The Agriculture Data Act, which Klobuchar introduced with Senator John Thune (R-SD), would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to collect, collate, integrate, and link data relating to the impacts of covered conservation practices on enhancing crop yields, soil health, and otherwise reducing risk and improving farm and ranch profitability. It would also give the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to establish a secure, confidential cloud-based conservation and farm productivity data warehouse to store operational, transactional, and administrative program databases and records that support business, statistical, and other analysis.

“Farmers sustain an important pillar of our nation’s economy, and do so under unpredictable market and weather conditions year-to-year – that’s why getting a bipartisan Farm Bill passed is so important,” Klobuchar said. “Getting this bipartisan legislation included in the 2018 Farm Bill will ensure hardworking farmers are able to capitalize on the United States Department of Agriculture’s vast resources to streamline their operations, enhance yields, and increase profits.”

The Agriculture Data Act has been endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation, the Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Defense Fund, the American Soybean Association, Cargill, the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and AGree.

As a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and a 2014 Farm Bill Conference Committee member, Klobuchar successfully pushed for key provisions in the last Farm Bill – including measures to support rural development projects, conservation programs, agricultural research, and the Rural Energy for America (REAP) program. For years Klobuchar has led a bipartisan push for the EPA to release a stronger RFS to support American jobs and decrease dependence on foreign oil. Last November the former Administration released a stronger final rule for 2017, which will require a record amount of biofuel to be mixed into our transportation fuel supply next year.

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