Next week members of the U.S. House and Senate begin meeting to discuss the final version of the farm bill. U.S. Representative Kristi Noem is a member of the Farm Bill conference committee. Thursday she visited with producers in eastern South Dakota about the concerns they have as Congress moves forward with negotiations. Much of the conversation, however, focused on how the bill will affect producers in West River.
Representative Kristi Noem says this is the first time in nearly 20 years that South Dakota has a voice on the conference committee drafting the final version of the Farm Bill. She says she’s focused on three issues: crop insurance, removal of programs that have manipulated markets, and the Livestock Indemnity Program. Many producers in West River are keeping their eyes on that third item as they work to recover from the destructive blizzard that hit the region earlier this month. Right now the two versions of the Farm Bill cap assistance at 100 or 125 thousand dollars. For some ranchers, that amount doesn’t come close to covering their losses. Noem says she’s willing to discuss raising the cap.
“Those livestock disaster programs are key so it’s going to be important to make that argument,” Noem says. “If it’s not raised, I hate to even think about that right now, but certainly a little bit of help is better than nothing, and we’re going to do all we can to get them some help. The disaster programs weren’t meant to cover all of their losses, but they certainly are going to need something that will help get them through the months ahead and at least be able to stay in the business if that’s something that they choose to do.”
Producers won’t be able to receive help, however, until a bill is passed. Noem says that could take a couple of months.
“Realistically, when you look at legislatively how things go in DC, my timeframe is the end of the year would be the last date that I would be willing to accept,” Noem says. “I would like it to move quicker than that but I do realize that there are a lot of fluid moving parts right here and a lot of big topics that we have to find agreement on.”
If a bill is not passed by the end of the year the country reverts back to policies and programs enacted in 1940.