Senator John Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, outlined key provisions for North Dakota that he included in the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2021 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations bill.
The bill focuses on supporting farmers and ranchers, agriculture research, and rural communities in North Dakota.
Support for farmers and ranchers includes maintaining support for crop insurance and other farm bill programs, increasing funding for farm direct, guaranteed and emergency loans to meet the expected demands, strong funding for Chronic Wasting Disease management, and $10 million for the Farm and Ranch Assistance Network to provide producers access to mental health support and resources. The bill also includes other additions to support the ag producers of North Dakota.
Agricultural research is strongly supported, by the Agriculture Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. This includes maintaining formula research funding for land-grant universities. As well as increased ARS funding, for crops across North Dakota like; Sugarbeet Research, a new Barley Pest Initiative, the Pulse Crop Health Initiative, and more.
The bill also supports rural America by providing $400 million for the ReConnect Broadband Pilot and $5 million for RISE grants to fund job accelerators in rural areas. As well as maintaining funding for the Grassroots Source Water Protection Program and the Rural Electric Guaranteed Loans, Rural Cooperative Development Grants and the Rural Business Development Grants in North Dakota.
The Senate Appropriations Committee released the bill today, as Congress works to pass FY2021 funding legislation.
