Hoeven Secures Commitment from Ag Secretary Nominee Brooke Rollins to Advance Key Priorities for North Dakota Producers

Hoeven Secures Commitment from Ag Secretary Nominee Brooke Rollins to Advance Key Priorities for North Dakota Producers

Senator Calls on Rollins to Help Strengthen Farm Safety Net & Quickly Implement Disaster Assistance, Visit North Dakota to Learn About Grand Farm Firstha

WASHINGTON - At a hearing of the Senate Agriculture Committee this week, Senator John Hoeven discussed with Brooke Rollins, President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as Secretary of Agriculture, critical priorities for farmers, ranchers and agri-businesses. Hoeven outlined a broad range of efforts to strengthen U.S. agriculture and secured commitments from Rollins to work with him on:

• Passing a strong farm bill that makes needed investments in the farm safety net.
• Implementing and quickly delivering the $33.5 billion in disaster assistance that he worked to secure for producers in the year-end funding legislation.
  • The assistance package addresses losses from both natural disasters and challenging markets and has funding specifically set aside for livestock losses due to wildfire.
• Ensuring access for agriculture producers to U.S. Forest Service lands in North Dakota, including for grazing on the national grasslands.
• Improving access to foreign markets for U.S. farmers and ranchers.
• Visiting North Dakota to learn firsthand about precision agriculture efforts in the state, including the partnership between Grand Farm, North Dakota State University and the Agricultural Research Service.

"Unlike the consolidation we've seen in many industries, U.S. farms and ranches still largely consist of small, family-owned operations. That's a real benefit to our nation, and in order to maintain it, we need to help producers recover from recent hardships and ensure the farm safety net works when needed most," said Hoeven, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. "With her long personal and professional connection to agriculture and rural America, Brooke Rollins understands the needs of our farmers and ranchers. I appreciate her commitment to work with me on passing the strongest possible farm bill and to get assistance out to producers quickly and efficiently. I look forward to working with her on these key priorities and to her visit in North Dakota, so she can see firsthand the incredible work our state is doing on precision ag, including at Grand Farm and NDSU."

Keeping the Farm in the Farm Bill

After helping secure a one-year extension of the farm bill in the year-end legislation, Hoeven continues working to pass a farm bill that addresses producers' needs and ensures the farm safety net works when needed most. These priorities include:

• Enhancing crop insurance, the primary risk management tool for many producers.
  • Improving the affordability of higher levels of coverage, consistent with Hoeven's FARMER Act, will better enable producers to weather natural disasters and reduce the need for future ad-hoc disaster assistance.
• Improving the counter-cyclical safety net, including the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs.
  • Hoeven stated that reference prices need to reflect market realities and the cost of production that farmers are currently facing.
• Ensuring adequate access to credit by including his legislation to modernize Farm Service Agency (FSA) loan limits as part of the Farm Bill.
• Strengthening livestock disaster programs, including the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Livestock Forage Program (LFP) and the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP).
  • This aligns with legislation Hoeven sponsored last Congress to better align coverage between LFP and ELAP and make these improvements permanent.
• Making programs voluntary and farmer-friendly, instead of one-size-fits-all.

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