House Approves 5-Year Farm Bill

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives today approved a 5-year Farm Bill agreement that charts a better path for America’s farmers and ranchers, rural communities, small businesses, and consumers across the country.

U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, who is Vice Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said the Farm Bill provides the foundation to help farmers and ranchers survive a nearly 50-percent decrease in net farm income over the past five years, which is the largest drop since the Great Depression.

The 2018 Farm Bill:

• Strengthens the farm safety net and provides certainty and flexibility to America’s farmers and ranchers, notably for dairy farmers.
• Protects crop insurance and helps combat predatory tradition practices of foreign countries.
• Maintains and preserves conservation funding to improve our soil, water, and other natural resources, and also improves our response to natural disasters.
• Encourages active forest management and new markets for American forest products.
• Supports beginning farmers and ranchers through a variety of programs encouraging future generations of agriculture.
• Includes Thompson-sponsored language providing priority status for research of Chronic Wasting Disease.
• Improves the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) integrity and incentivizes work for able-bodied adults without dependents.

 “A lot of work went into building and negotiating a great bill for American farm families and everyday consumers,” Vice Chairman Thompson said. “I was proud to serve as Chairman of the Nutrition Subcommittee where we were able to improve the integrity of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). While this Conference Report is a compromise, it does include significant incremental victories that will make SNAP more effective for those who truly need it.

“I am pleased that we were able to make significant reforms to our dairy program.  Our dairy farmers have continued to face difficult times over the past decade, and I am hopeful that the 2018 Farm Bill will help to provide some stability in this sector.
Overall, this bill is a huge win and I am proud the House approved this tremendously important legislation.”

“House Republicans refused to stop fighting for rural America and we’ve reached a deal that sets us on a better path – for producers, for rural communities and for American consumers,” House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway said. “GT has been a strong advocate and critical voice for production agriculture in this farm bill conference process and I’m thankful for his leadership, which helped get this across the finish line.”

Since the bill has been passed by both the House and Senate, it now will be sent to President Donald J. Trump to be signed into law.