The two-year budget deal among Congressional leaders and the White House is key for agriculture, including farm program fixes, disaster aid and tax break extenders. American Farm Bureau budget adviser R.J. Karney spoke ahead of House and Senate votes on the budget deal, citing key program fixes needed to write the next farm bill.
The agreement inclusion of dairy and cotton provisions will boost funding for the next farm bill by $1.2 billion and will make cotton producers eligible for ARC and PLC payments.
The deal also contains the long-awaited tax extender package, which includes a 1-year retroactive extension of the biodiesel tax incentive.
The bill also contains disaster aid, $2.3 billion of it for farmers and ranchers.
And the budget contains $6-billion to fight opioid addiction—a big problem in rural, not just urban areas, plus a way forward for future funding of land and water infrastructure projects.
