South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds sent a letter to Senate Ag Committee Chairman Pat Roberts and Ranking member Debbie Stabenow outlining a list of priorities for the upcoming farm bill. Rounds says he spoke with South Dakota’s farmers and one of their top wishes is for a strong risk management program preserved in the farm bill.
He says another priority of South Dakota’s farmers and ranchers is a solid conservation reserve program. Rounds says currently there are only 24 million acres allowed in CRP nationwide. He wants that increased to 30 million acres. Rounds says it’s also important to include marginal acres in CRP.
Rounds says he also spoke with livestock producers and he thinks there needs to be funding provided for a vaccination bank for foot and mouth disease.
Rounds says a recent Iowa State University study found that an outbreak of F-M-D in the United States could potentially cost as much as $197 billion over ten years. He adds one other priority for the farm bill is to increase the individual cap for USDA’s Farm Service Agency guaranteed farm ownership loans and farm operating loans.
