Source: United States Senator for North Dakota John Hoeven
Senator also Secured Funding for Farm Loans Programs, ND Ag Research, Livestock Provisions
WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, today announced that he included more than $7 billion in disaster assistance to help farmers and ranchers with losses due to drought and other natural disasters as part of the Senate’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. The legislation, which was approved by the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee today, will go to the full Appropriations Committee for review later this week.
Specifically, Hoeven secured the following disaster assistance provisions:
- $6.28 billion for disaster assistance to aid producers who suffered losses due to droughts, hurricanes, wildfires, floods and other qualifying disasters in calendar years 2020 and 2021.
- $750 million for livestock producers for losses incurred during 2021 due to drought or wildfire. This disaster assistance will build on top of existing farm bill programs for livestock producers.
“With many of our farmers and ranchers facing a severe drought, we worked to include more than $7 billion in this year’s agriculture appropriations bill, including $750 million for livestock producers. This will help to cover losses and keep our producers in the game as they overcome these challenging times,” said Ranking Member Hoeven. “At the same time, this bill will help to meet the needs of rural America, including fully funding farm loans to provide producers with access to capital, strong support for agricultural research and continued investment in rural broadband. We will continue working to advance this important funding legislation, which will now go to the full Appropriations Committee for review.”
As ranking member, Hoeven worked to secure additional support for North Dakota’s producers and rural communities, including:
- A provision establishing a pilot program for acattle contract library at the Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS).
- The contract library would help improve price transparency in cattle markets and comes as part of Hoeven’s efforts to ensure ranchers have access to fair and competitive markets.
- An additional $2 million for AMS to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act.
- Funding to meet demand for farm direct, guaranteed and emergency loans, which providefarmers and ranchers with access to capital.
Highlights of the FY2022 Agriculture Appropriations Bill
Support for Farmers and Ranchers
- Maintains support for crop insurance and other farm bill programs.
- Increases funding to meet demand for direct, guaranteed and emergency loans, which provide farmers and ranchers with access to capital.
- $5 million for the Wetland Mitigation Banking program, providing an important resource for farmers to remain conservation compliant.
- $500,000 for blackbird depredation in the Northern Great Plains through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
- Directs the National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) to provide information on how the agency can improve the accuracy of their reports.
Agriculture Research
- Additional $9 million for maintenance and repair of the Agriculture Research Service (ARS) facilities, like the Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center.
- $1 million for a new cooperative agreements with land grand universities, non-profits and other entities to support the research, development and acceleration of agriculture technology.
- Provides strong funding for agricultural research conducted by ARS and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
- Maintains formula research funding for land-grant universities, including NDSU.
- Increases the following research funding:
- $1 million increase for sugarbeet research.
- $1 million increase for the Barley Pest Initiative.
- $1 million increase for the National Canola Research program.
- $1 million increase for the Pulse Crop Health Initiative.
- $1 million increase for the Healthy Soils Initiative.
- $1 million increase for the Pulse Crop Quality Initiative.
- $1 million increase for Genetic Oat Research.
- $500,000 increase for the Alfalfa Seed and Alfalfa Forage Systems Research program.
- Also maintains funding for the Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative.
Strengthening Rural America
- $700 million for the ReConnect Program, a rural broadband loan and grant pilot program.
- $5 million for the Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) Grant Program, which supports innovation clusters in rural regions.
- RISE aligns with Hoeven’s ongoing work to advance the development and adoption of the next generation of precision agriculture technologies.
- To this end, Hoeven worked to previously provide $10 million across FY2020 and FY2021 for RISE, secured language to prioritize project like Grand Farm and pressed USDA to finish implementing the program, an effort which was successfully completed in June.
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