North Dakota Senator John Hoeven urged his colleagues on the Senate Agriculture Committee to bring issues like SNAP and the fix to Prop 12 to the floor, but move forward first at the committee level and pass a farm bill. “With high input costs, farmers need our help, they need this farm bill.” Many typical farm bill provisions were included in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill, including an increase in reference prices, additional base acres, and enhancements to crop insurance. Language in the Senate Farm Bill includes increased limits for the direct and guaranteed Farm Service Agency loans, additional flexibility for emergency haying and grazing on CRP ground, and an expansion of the ELAP program to cover transportation costs when hauling feed and water during a disaster. There’s also some provisions that directly impacts the Northern Plains, including a crop insurance fix for farmers impacted by the Fargo Moorhead diversion project, and authority for USDA to study the potential inclusion of dry edible beans as a Title I commodity.
