All 5 members of Nebraska’s Congressional delegation visited the UNL Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources on Monday to hear from students and officials about the new Farm Bill currently being crafted in Congress.
University leaders pressed the need for the bill to invest in agricultural research while Senators Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts and Congressmen Mike Flood, Don Bacon, and Adrian Smith spoke to students and watched their ag robots work.
Also on hand were farmers and ranchers, who shared in a session with no reporters present what they want to see in the Farm Bill. The lawmakers said afterward the farmers asked that federal crop insurance funding not be cut or changed in ways that would damage the safety net program that they rely on.
Gering Congressman Adrian Smith said he wants to make sure the next farm bill keeps farmers and ranchers nimble enough economically to respond to the changing demands of consumers.
Smith, a former House Ag Committee member now on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, says he wants “the agility for producers to be able to innovate for the future and hopefully smooth things out economically for themselves,” adding that continued investments in research are a big part of that future
The Farm BIll is to be renewed every 5 years, but Senator Deb Fischer of rural Valentine, a cattle rancher and a member of the Senate Ag, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, warned that the need to negotiate an agreement addressing both rural and urban concerns could push the new bill into 2024
Asked how they square their support of spending cuts with support for farm programs, the lawmakers said they want to cut programs that are less effective than the Farm Bill – crediting it with helping keep food costs lower than in other countries.