Groups praise Senate Farm Bill

Montana's U.S. senators have come together on a Farm Bill - which one helped write - that is receiving praise from groups in Montana.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said the bill he helped write in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Farm Bill, which passed out of the committee Wednesday, will help Montana farmers, ranchers and rural communities.

"This proposal is good news for Montana farmers and ranchers," Daines said in a press release Wednesday. "As the Farm Bill moves forward, I will continue to fight for Montana agriculture and for responsible forest management that supports Montana jobs and contributes to healthier, safer forests."

The Farm Bill now in effect expires at the end of September.

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, the Senate's only working farmer, also praised the bill, and demanded swift action from Congress to pass it and get it signed into law.

"Montana farmers and ranchers can take this Farm Bill to the bank," Tester, who farms land near Big Sandy homesteaded by his grandparents, said in a press release. "It works for Montana because it protects crop insurance, strengthens the safety net, encourages conservation, and meets the needs of family farmers and ranchers."

The Farm Bill will now head to the U.S. Senate floor, where, Daines said, he will offer additional amendments that address priorities important to Montanans, including reforms to fringe litigation threatening the timber industry and reforms to strengthen forest management.

Daines' release said some of the highlights of the bill include funding for agriculture research critical to Montana farmers and ranchers, crop insurance to help mitigate risks for the agriculture community, programs to support the Montana timber industry and provisions that will prioritize broadband for unserved communities.

Tester also highlighted some of the features of the bill he supports, saying,

"Agriculture is Montana's number one industry. This legislation reflects the priorities and input I heard from producers during my Farm Bill listening sessions. Nobody knows the importance of the Farm Bill like the families who make their living off the land." 

Some of the provisions he highlighted were that the bill:

• Reauthorizes and keeps intact both Price Loss Coverage and Ag Risk Coverage insurance.

• Keeps the popular Conservation Stewardship Program intact.

• Amends the Environmental Quality Incentive Program to better work for Montana producers.

• Increases the maximum acreage of the Conservation Reserve Program.

• Directs the USDA Secretary to more actively fight the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease.

• Protects sugar policies from the current Farm Bill.

• Reauthorizes the Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, which is vital to the mission at the Northern Plains Research Lab in Sidney.

• Mandates funding for the National Organic Certification Cost Share Program.

• Removes hemp from the list of controlled substances, enabling it to be sold as a commodity.

• Consolidates the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program to create a new trade promotion initiative.

• Reauthorizes critical USDA Rural Development Grants that are used to rebuild and construct water and wastewater infrastructure and expand access to high-speed internet in rural areas.

Montana Food Bank Network applauded the bill for including funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which was cut in the House version which is stalled after failing on a 198-213 vote May 18.

Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., voted for the House bill.

"As the (Senate) Farm Bill process moves forward, we call on Montana's congressional delegation to recognize the importance of passing a Farm Bill that supports our agricultural producers, our rural communities, and the tens of thousands of Montana households who struggle to make ends meet," Food Bank Network CEO Gayle Carlson said in a release Tuesday. "We urge Sens. Daines and Tester to support this bipartisan Farm Bill that avoids harmful changes to SNAP, while continuing to seek opportunities to further strengthen SNAP and our other anti-hunger programs

Montana Wilderness Association also praised the bill.

"We're pleased with the sensible and bipartisan version of the Farm Bill that passed the Senate Agriculture Committee today," Montana Wilderness Association Interim Conservation DirectorAmy Robinson said in a release Wednesday. "It builds on the crucial wildfire funding fix that was in the omnibus spending bill. It buttresses collaboration in national forest management and renews and expands the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, which launched the Southwestern Crown of the Continent Collaborative in Seeley Lake and Ovando. It also preserves the roadless rule, a crucial component for preserving wild places in Montana.

"We're also relieved that Sen. Steve Daines refrained from offering scores of amendments he had originally proposed that would have undermined bedrock environmental laws and taken citizens out of the decision-making process on our national forests. These extreme proposals have no place in a bipartisan farm bill," Robinson added.

Tester urged the House and Senate to work closely together to put the legislation on the president's desk before August.

"Rural America deserves certainty," Tester said in his release. "Folks in Congress must check politics at the door and pass this responsible Farm Bill that invests in the families that grow the food that feeds the world."