Hyde-Smith: Farm Bill Agreement Will Benefit Mississippi

Statement

U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today voted for a new Farm Bill that will benefit Mississippi by offering greater certainty to the state's agricultural sector, supporting agricultural research at universities, and promoting natural resources conservation.

The Senate on Tuesday voted 87-13 to approve the conference report to the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (HR.2), a five-year farm bill that authorizes agricultural, rural development, and nutrition policies through 2023. With approval from the House, the measure will go to President Trump to be signed into law.

"Mississippi farmers and ranchers continually deal with factors that can mean disaster, which is why they look for certainty and flexibility in farm programs. The 2018 Farm Bill has been written to set policies that can help producers remain productive despite threats posed by predatory trading practices or net farm income losses," Hyde-Smith said.

"I'm proud that the final bill includes specific wins for Mississippi, which I worked to secure in the bill. Among these are provisions to support rural economic development, combat chronic wasting disease, and affordable crop insurance for flood-prone areas," she said. "This bill is not perfect, but its overall benefits far outweigh its shortfalls."

The final bill includes four Hyde-Smith amendments, which were included in the Senate-passed bill. These provisions, which have no direct spending impact on the cost of the bill, will:
* Okhissa Lake -- Direct the Secretary of Agriculture to transfer 150 acres around Okhissa Lake in Franklin County to the Scenic Rivers Development Alliance for rural economic development in Southwest Mississippi;
* Crop Insurance in Flood-prone Regions -- Direct the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to conduct research and development on more affordable crop insurance policies for cotton, soybeans and corn farmers within the Lower Mississippi Valley affected by frequent flooding;
* Chronic Wasting Disease -- Prioritize chronic wasting disease research (CWD), which will assist land-grant universities like Mississippi State University and the MSU Extension Service better understand and combat the spread of CWD;
* Health Forest Reserves -- Reauthorize the Healthy Forests Reserve Program to help landowners restore, enhance, and protect forest ecosystems in order to promote the recovery of threatened and endangered species, and improve biodiversity.

Important to Mississippi, the overall bill includes the following provisions:
* Farm Safety Net -- Reauthorizes the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs through 2023;
* PLC Reference Prices -- Maintains PLC program reference prices at current levels, with a provision allowing them to increase to better respond to market conditions;
* Marketing Loan Rates -- Increases marketing loan rates by varying amounts per eligible commodity;
* Upland Cotton Program -- Permanently extends and provides full baseline funding for the Economic Adjustment Assistance to Users of Upland Cotton Program (EAAP), which authorizes economic assistance to domestic users of upland cotton, such as textile mills in order to maintain a globally competitive textile industry;
* Environmental Quality Incentives Program -- Reauthorizes and increases funding for the EQIP. Mississippi ranks second nationally in active and completed EQIP contracts;
* Conservation Stewardship Program -- Reauthorizes and maintains CSP as a separate conservation program. In FY2017, the USDA obligated the most CSP funding nationally to Mississippi;
* Conservation Reserve Program -- Expands CRP acreage enrollment from 24 million to 27 million acres;
* Delta Regional Authority -- Reauthorizes the Delta Regional Authority, in addition to programs to assist rural communities with water and waste disposal systems;
* Rural Hospitals -- Expands eligibility for certain loan programs that benefit Mississippi rural hospitals;
* Rural Broadband -- Strengthens rural broadband and telemedicine services for rural America;
* Agriculture Research -- Increases authorized funding for ongoing agriculture research programs involving Mississippi universities and land grant institutions; and,
* Nutrition -- Makes improvements to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to increase program integrity and otherwise incentivizing work to move more recipients toward self-sufficiency.

A summary of the bill is available here.

Source