Senate Farm Bill Committee Draft Reflects Young Farmer Needs

On Friday afternoon, the Senate Agriculture Committee released its long-awaited draft of the 2018 Farm Bill. In stark contrast to the hyper-partisan approach of their House counterparts, Senate Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) offered a bipartisan alternative, the product of months of negotiations and consensus-building. The result is a bill that, despite a challenging fiscal and political climate, contains significant wins for young farmers and ranchers. The Senate bill includes many proposals outlined in NYFC’s Young Farmer Agenda. And it’s clear that the tireless work of young farmer leaders throughout NYFC’s farm bill campaign has paid off, and those voices have been heard.  No bipartisan bill is perfect, however, and we’ll highlight some areas for improvement below.   The Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to amend and approve the bill on Wednesday, June 13th. Here’s a summary of what they got right and what NYFC members and supporters need to get changed: Via Gardening http://www.rssmix.com/