2018 Farm Bill Headed to the President’s Desk

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Ted S. Yoho (R-FL), a member of the House Agriculture Committee, released the following statement on House passage of the Conference Report for the 2018 Farm Bill (H.R. 2):

“Today we have cleared the final hurdle to ensure America’s farmers and ranchers have the certainty they need to produce the most affordable, highest quality food in the world. The hard-working families of our agriculture community put food on the table of over 300 million people every day.  We are blessed to have such abundance provided by so few.  

“The final vote we took today sets agriculture policy for the next five years. It was a long process, and I want to thank Chairman Conaway and his staff for all their hard work. While we did not get the common-sense reforms to the food stamp program, there are victories for our district and the state of Florida in this 2018 Farm Bill.

“We have retained the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine bank to help prevent devastating outbreaks of foot and mouth disease among our nation's livestock. We also secured the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) for the creation of the Citrus Trust Fund. This fund is vital to protecting Florida’s billion-dollar citrus industry and will be instrumental in researching the causes of citrus disease (citrus greening) and how best to address the problem. Lastly, changes to the Research Facilities Act were included in the final bill and will help research universities, like the University of Florida, construct and improve their agricultural research facilities.

“A lot of good will come from these additions to the 2018 Farm Bill. I am honored to have had the opportunity to fight for them as a member of the House Agriculture Committee and a conferee.”