Legislation includes key Klobuchar priorities to increase investment in renewable energy, promote precision agriculture, create an animal disease and disaster program, and support dairy and beginning farmers

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today announced that the 2018 Farm Bill passed the full Senate with strong bipartisan support. The bill includes Klobuchar’s provisions that would help provide certainty to farmers and ranchers, create an animal disease and disaster program, and support dairy farmers. The bill also protects and expands crop insurance to improve access for beginning farmers, preserves a strong safety net for farmers, and maintains important access to food assistance for families in need while saving millions of taxpayer dollars by cracking down on fraud and abuse.

“This Farm Bill will give our farmers and ranchers the certainty they need to grow and prosper. I worked hard to ensure the bill included a strong safety net for farmers, important conservation provisions, support for dairy farmers, and protections for our farm animals against disease and our farmers from economic hardship,” Klobuchar said. “The Farm Bill passed the Senate today with strong bipartisan support and proved that when we work across the aisle on tough problems, we can pass legislation that moves our economy forward.”

The 2018 Farm Bill includes several of Klobuchar’s priorities, including provisions to create an animal disease and disaster response program, invest an additional $100 million to improve affordability and flexibility for small dairy producers, improve agriculture data research of conservation practices to help farmers reduce risk and increase profitability, and protect the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) funding.

Klobuchar also introduced several amendments to the 2018 Farm Bill that were included in the Senate-passed text, including provisions to:

  • Increase investment in renewable energy by restoring mandatory funding levels for programs in the Energy Title;
  • Promote precision agriculture and target broadband deployment to the nation’s farms and ranches, based on Klobuchar and Senator Roger Wicker’s (R-MS) Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act;
  • Disincentivize the conversion of native sod to cropland by closing a crop insurance yield substitution loophole and giving Governors in all 50 states the option to participate in the “sodsaver” program, based on Klobuchar and Senator John Thune’s (R-SD) American Prairie Conservation Act; and
  • Change the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)-Transition Incentives Program to further expand and incentivize land transitions to beginning farmers.
  • 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 Program (REAP).

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 Program (REAP).

Video of Klobuchar speaking on the Senate Floor about the Farm Bill is available here.

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