With the current 2018 Farm Bill extended for one year, federal lawmakers from Iowa are celebrating one small win of getting a new Farm Bill passed the beginning step of the process.

Iowa’s Third Congressional District Representative Zach Nunn says the new Farm Bill was passed, with bipartisan support, out of the House Agriculture Committee. He says the legislation has several key areas that he put together from the series of Farm Bill Town Halls that he conducted across the Third Congressional District.

“From their recommendations, their real world experience, and them as actual fellow farmers in this area we were able to get some of the best priorities into the Farm Bill. In fact as a freshman (legislator) from Iowa we were able to get over 17 different bills that help make up the overall Farm Bill. This is a once in a five year opportunity.”    

Nunn points out the Farm, Food, and National Security Act strengthen crop insurance incentives, investing more funding into infrastructure with expanding broadband connectivity, expanding access to credit for small and beginning farmers, including more coverage for disaster recovery for tornadoes, flood mitigation, drought and animal borne diseases; to providing expanded access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to rural areas, and having safeguards against foreign countries from purchasing agriculture land and cyber attacks.

“Agriculture now is one of the top targeted items by groups out of China and Russia to steal bio-intellectual property to destroy or disrupt our ability in the supply chain in water provisions for the country; getting these pieces of legislation and really fight back and protect America’s ag against foreign actors who intend to do us harm.”

 

Nunn says the bill must be brought to the House floor for consideration before sending the legislation to the Senate.