Senate Ag Committee leadership aims for bipartisan farm bill

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Senate Ag Committee leadership aims for bipartisan farm bill

The chair of the Senate Ag Committee says a call for crop insurance support and sustainability efforts was loudly echoed at their first committee field hearing. 

When asked how climate issues will be addressed in the next farm bill, Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow tells Brownfield, “We’ll have to discuss that, what I do think has been successful is the voluntary nature of our conservation programs and the fact that our farmers want to very much be engaged in this,” she says.

Ranking member John Boozman tells Brownfield writing a farm bill today looks much different and new issues are arising.

“Inflation, the supply chain, labor—all of these things are such that we’re really in uncharted water right now,” he says.

Two panels of Michigan witnesses dissected what’s been working in the latest farm bill and where improvements can be made including consistent and timely service from USDA agencies, expanding funding resources for farmers, and widening coverage options for a diverse mix of commodities.

Boozman stresses Republicans on the committee are committed to creating a bipartisan bill that equally represents the needs of nutrition and farm programs and tells Brownfield he wants to see even more collaboration than in the past on the process.

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