U.S. Senator John Thune is in Pierre Thursday meeting with business leaders and legislators. He says he’s visiting the Capitol to learn about issues affecting the state and plans to grow the economy. But Thune says on Farm Bill recently passed by Congress, it has a major effect on South Dakotans and the economy here. Thune says he’s now concerned with getting the livestock disaster, conservation, commodity and forestry titles implemented.
“You always want to see these things move as quickly as possible through the regulatory implementation process. It’s always a challenge because anytime a Farm Bill passes, even though we only do it every five or six years, it seems like it takes them six months or a year to get those things put into place. I hope it’s a lot faster—we’ve urged the Secretary of Agriculture to work in an expeditious manner to try and get the various components and elements of this Farm Bill implemented so that it can begin to be utilized by our farmers and ranchers across South Dakota. It was so long overdue in the first place,” Thune says.
Thune says the most important area to get implemented right away is the livestock disaster title to help farmers and ranchers recoup following the October blizzard.