Senators did not make any cuts to agriculture when they passed their budget bill Friday, which was a primary concern of Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow. South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke is pleased with the Senate measure, but says there needs to be more funding put into the farm bill.
He says the Senate budget bill is positive but when the conference committee meets, the Senate version of the budget needs to be adopted. Sombke says that’s because the Senate didn’t cut the agriculture budget and the House did.
Sombke says now that the budget bills have moved in both Houses, Congress will take up tax reform. He hopes following that the lawmakers will put together the new farm bill and help farmers by incentivizing conservation practices.
Sombke says some of the farm bill components need tweaking, especially ARC and PLC.
